All For Revenge
by SetsunaNoroi
Summary: AU but not in a huge sense. Tifa joins the Turks to take down ShinRa from the inside but things are never easy. Keeping up an image of loyalty is hard enough but things begin to weigh heavy on her conscious ...and heart. Eventual TifaRude. T for violence.
1. Infiltration

I said that I wasn't going to do a continuation for a while but Nando (My Beta. He's so cool.) read my idea and insisted I post it. I've just started college so I'll be pretty busy. Fanfiction comes in third to my studies and then my job so there probably won't be a post every other day.

For those of you who didn't read the summary, this is a Rude/ Tifa fic with a bit of a twist. Tifa didn't join AVALANCHE. She joined the Turks in order to take the company out from the inside. Can't say much more without giving away the plot.

Disclaimer: Hmm, does anyone think I own FF7? If you do, send me a cookie and then please realize that I don't own FF7. But the cookie will be a nice thought.

All For Revenge

Chapter 1: Infiltration

Tifa Lockheart had never been so nervous. Her right leg was shaking a little and her bottom lip was receiving endless torture from her teeth. But then again, who wouldn't be nervous in this situation?

She was sitting in front of Tseng's desk as he filtered through paperwork and checked his computer screen every few minute. Tseng, the leader of the Turks, which happened to be the organization that she was hoping to be a part of at the end of this 'interview'. He was checking her background history that every ShinRa employee had and that's why she was so nervous.

And when he suddenly did a quick double look at his computer and frowned she knew instinctively that he had found the one small but disastrous piece of information that she had hoped he wouldn't. Found the info that could make or break her reason for coming here. She was from the village of Nibelheim.

"Miss Lockheart, do you realize the reason we check personal files?" He didn't give her a chance to answer. "We have no wish to hire a person who might have a criminal record against the company of ShinRa. Nor do we wish to hire some one that might have a grudge against it."

Deciding not to play dumb, Tifa shook her head. "Sir, I was honestly hoping this wouldn't come up but I can tell you that ShinRa's involvement with Nibelheim meant nothing to me. I took their… apology and never spoke of it."

Tseng studied the young woman and she tried her best to look sincere. She couldn't show weakness to this man, too much was riding on this. She needed to control her emotions and not let him see that she was lying through her teeth. She usually wouldn't be so worried; after all, she was a very good liar that years of practice had molded her into. But he was one of the Turks and she knew that messing with them wasn't a good idea if one wasn't a masochist, or suicidal, or both.

In reality she hated ShinRa. She had hated them since Sephiroth had killed her father and burned down the town. And it had only intensified when a few days latter soldiers had shown up with a few people in suits. All of the survivors were given money for bribes and threats to keep their mouth shut about what had happened. And in a week the wreckage of Nibelheim looked as if nothing had ever occurred.

She had lived in the town for a year, angry about the cover-up. ShinRa had even sent people to act as if they had always lived there. They weren't just acting as part of the cover up though; they were enforcing it, spying on their neighbors. Everyone was too terrified of ShinRa to say anything and the one time Tifa had had spoken out against it (thankfully in the privacy of a neighbor home where it hadn't been overheard) she had been told that it was enough that they had gotten their home back and that she had better learn to keep quiet.

In another year she left. The money she still had left from her bribe and what she gained from selling her house paid for a one-way trip to Midgar and a small flat in Sector 7. She had one purpose and one purpose only: revenge. She was going to tear down ShinRa and make them pay for their sins.

Doing it from the inside sounded like the best way to go so she joined the military. She had also had the small hope that she would see Cloud but after another year her hopes had dwindled to nothing. But she worked hard and was promoted twice, which she was happy about. She couldn't do any damage as just a grunt. Problems didn't occur until a few months latter when she received a new commanding officer. He had ordered her to sleep with him and in response she took out a little over three years of anger on him by beating the lecherous bastard to a pulp.

She was lucky she had only been demoted and not killed, but then again, its not like the guy was going to admit he had just lost a hand-to-hand fight with a girl who had a lower rank than he did. She never got promoted again though and in a few more months she decided that the military was getting her nowhere fast and she needed to go in a different direction. What she needed was a position where she could get trust, where she could learn dirty secrets and use it to her favor. She needed to get high in the food chain quickly.

Then she had heard about a mission that Turks had pulled off.

It had been too perfect not to at least check up on.

And so here she was, in ShinRa Building floor 49 being interviewed by Tseng. It had been difficult at first. He had told her it took lots of training and someone with only a year and a half of military training just probably wouldn't be able to cut it. She insisted though and he agreed finally to give her a shot.

"I don't see any record of it being a problem," Tseng murmured as he scanned the computer. "Did this come up when you asked to join the military?"

"No sir," she replied honestly.

The man shook his head. "They'll take anybody."

"Sir," she said, "if you don't wish to hire me than just say so. I'm a soldier. I understand that the safety of the company and everyone in it is important."

Though she looked calm, the inside part of her was screaming in rage. Trust ShinRa not to hire a person because of something it had done!

Tseng seemed to consider a moment before nodding.

"Very well. I'll hire you as a Trainee. You'll need a lot of training during which you'll only be going on small missions with a more experienced Turk keeping an eye on you. Oh, and you'll need to move to the Plate." He had merely added this as an after thought but it struck Tifa the hardest.

"Sir?" she asked. "I'm not sure I could afford that." 'Not unless the Turks have the ability to stop needing food.'

Tseng chuckled. "I can see you didn't wish to join because of the money," he said and noticed her confused look. "The job is quite dangerous. It's only natural that it would pay well to compensate for that. But if you didn't join for the money, then why?"

"For… the challenge," she replied after a moment.

"Hmm. Alright. I'll get the transfer papers ready and you should be able to start in a day or two. Turn in your uniform, pack up your things from your apartment, and report here." He handed her a card that read 'Midgar Palace'. "It's just a standard apartment building but it should be fine. There was another guy that came from the slums, he lives there now."

"Sir, why do we need to live on the Plate?" she asked thinking of all the ShinRa workers that still needed to live in the slums.

"Quicker response time," he said simply. "You're dismissed."

Tifa nodded, stood, and left. Pressing the button to the elevator, she began her descent. A Turk. She'd never believed it would happen so quickly. Still, she didn't know if that man Tseng would remain suspicious and she was pretty much a grunt with a different name. She'd need to keep her nose clean, at least for a while.

It took a while to get back. Security for the Plate was tight, even for those leaving it. She thought briefly that she'd no doubt need to get a car. Unlike in the slums, trains weren't used much on the Plate. Just to get to the level below and back for people like her.

The train finally reached Sector 7 and she climbed out to make her way home. It wasn't much really. The place was nothing but a kitchen attached to a living room, and bathroom that could have grown scientific experiments if not for the hours and effort she put into cleaning it. She would have reported the rats living there but she had a feeling the landlord would just end up making her pay rent for them as well.

Stripping out of her military uniform, she stepped into the shower to wash up. Excitement was beginning to bubble up inside of her. This would be the last time she would have to use this crummy shower, the last time she would have to wear that uniform, and a way to take down ShinRa was finally coming into sight. All in all, things were begining to look up.

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Well? Short I know. I'll try to work on that. On the other hand, short chapters mean quicker posting time so I might just let it lie unless someone complains. I doubt that though.

Reviews would be nice. If you do so I'll send you a cookie (complementary of the people who were nice enough to think I actually owned something as cool as FF7).


	2. Enter Reno!

Yeah! Second chapter. Hope you all like it. No Rude in this one. Nope, you T/Ru fans will just have to wait.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never did, never will. Unless…

Chapter 2: Enter Reno!

The feelings of contempt felt towards the old uniform was nothing compared to the hatred that was seething in Tifa as she pulled on the blue suit that was donned by the Turks. With a snort she smoothed out the last wrinkle of the suit in front of the full-length mirror in her new apartment bedroom. Even if she despised the corporation, she'd need to make a good first impression. It made her job a lot easier. And though she didn't want to admit it, the suit did look good on her. It fit her curves pretty well and while it was snug, it was still loose enough for her to be able to move properly.

'I hate doing this,' she thought. 'I just wish I was in Nibelheim with Papa.'

She checked her watch. She had been informed by Tseng that she was going to be picked up today at 9 a.m. by someone named Reno from the Turks. And right on time the doorbell rang and she walked out of her room to answer it.

A man with red hair and a lopsided grin was leaning against the doorframe. Green eyes glowed with mischief and two scars rested underneath of them. Both the disarray of his clothes and hair gave Tifa the impression he had gotten ready in the dark. She kept her mouth shut but inwardly she felt like a moron for putting so much effort into making sure her uniform was so well prepared in order to impress him.

'Somehow I doubt he cares about a damn wrinkle.'

"Lockheart, right?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. She nodded. "Name's Reno Finnegan. Tseng told me to collect you."

"I see," she said without any emotion. "Let's go then."

"What, no 'Nice to meet you,'? I'm disappointed." He chuckled and moved out of the way so that Tifa could shut and lock her door. She rolled her eyes and followed him as he led the way to the elevator.

"So, what made you want to join the Turks?" he asked her.

"Ask Tseng if you're so interested."

"Ouch. Harsh, aren't you Tif?"

"It's Tifa, and I'm not in the mood to talk about it."

"From what I heard about Lt. Drikon, I expected you to be a little more lively," he commented. He pushed the button to the elevator and got on with her in tow.

"You know about that?" she asked, taken a little off guard. No one had ever found out about her little 'disagreement' with her previous commanding officer. It had just been put down in the official records that she had failed to take an order. "How?"

He smirked at her. "I'm a Turk. It's my job to know. You think we were just waiting two days for you move into the apartment complex before getting you into work? All that little info can be important."

"So you know everything about me?" she asked with eyebrows raised.

"Well, almost everything. I'm sure you'll be glad to know that the color of your underwear is still in the strictest of confidence."

Tifa stared at him. And stared. And stared a bit more for good measure. She felt she should slap him but the corners of her lips were tugging upward instead and before she could stop herself she was smiling. There was just something that was impossible not to like about this man… kind of like a five year old.

"Well," she said after she straightened her expression. "That's comforting."

"Your bra size however-"

Tifa changed her mind and as the elevator opened up with a ding, Reno stepped out with a very badly stinging cheek.

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"Tif, we've really got to work on your gun skills."

Reno's comment on her ability with guns really didn't need to be stated. Tifa knew perfectly well that the best she could do was keep shooting until it made contact. When she had been a lowly soldier they had given her a machine gun and told her it was good enough. It was about the level most people in her former rank had had.

But the Peacemaker she had been handed by Reno only had 6 bullets and she was fairly sure that she hadn't hit the target at all.

Setting the gun back on the steel table, she didn't look at the target as Reno pushed the button to pull it closer. Instead she inspected the room she had been brought into more closely. It was a collection of drab gray walls with different sort of training equipment lined along the walls. Dozens of cases of guns, ammunition, and grenades were close to the practice area but she paid them no mind. Instead she walked over to the mats along the floor laid out near several different types of exercise equipment that she assumed were for fitness. There were a few weapons like daggers and staffs nearby and she silently thanked whatever deity that was listening that Reno wouldn't only be checking out her gun skills.

She was a martial artist; she didn't use weapons. At least, not when she could help it. She had some proficiency with some older ones like the halberd she was now inspecting but only because her former master Zangan had insisted upon variety. Her fists were probably not as fast or as lethal as a quick bullet through the skull but they were still effective. She could still take down several opponents by herself without strain even if more advanced ways of kicking somebody's ass didn't seem to agree with her.

"Well, you hit the target if that makes you feel any better," Reno said, suddenly breaking through her thoughts. She turned to see he was right behind her and realized angrily that he had successfully tried to sneak up on her. He grinned and handed her the full sized target she had shot at. There were four bullet holes in the sheet, but none of them were where she had aimed them. Two in either hip, one in the left hand, and one had hit the white of the paper near the head and really didn't even count as a hit. Truth be told, it had been better than she had expected.

"We'll work on that. I don't have a big specialty in guns either but I've learned to shoot well enough to keep me alive in emergency situations. But if firearms aren't your forte than what is?"

"Hand-to-hand," she told him. She readied herself in a defensive position. "Testing me on this now?"

Reno reached behind his jacket and pulled out what looked to be thin iron bar. With a push of a button it began to crackle with electricity. She eyed it warily but didn't mention she didn't have a weapon too. She felt more confident this way and it'd be a great way to prove herself if she did well even if he had the advantage.

"Ready?" he asked and she nodded silently.

He lunged forward, thrusting the eletro-mag rod towards her chest. Ducking down, she twisted slightly so it wouldn't hit her face and swept her leg out under his legs as he swung at her again. He fell but not before the tip grazed her face. She reeled back from the burn she had received and as she straightened she clutched her cheek with her hand.

It felt like fire against her skin and the shocking sensation only increased the pain. She saw through watering eyes that Reno had climbed back up onto his feet and was slowly advancing on her. There was no way that she was going to be able to get a hit in without risking injury herself. But she didn't have much of a choice.

Tifa rushed forward and pulled her right fist back to punch. Reno, seeing his opportunity, stabbed at Tifa again. Instead of dodging she wrapped her left arm around the rod. Electricity exploded through her side and she had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming aloud. But it had the effect she had wanted. His weapon was trapped and he was close enough to get a decent hit on him.

The force of the impact threw Reno onto his back. He had lost his rod, it still trapped in Tifa's enclosed arm, and as he stood up he winced. His weapon clattered noisily to the floor while she did her best not to crumple to the floor.

"Ballsy move," he said as he rubbed his cheek. "I never expected you to intentionally take a hit just to get to me. If this was more than just sparing you probably would've snapped my neck."

Tifa didn't even acknowledge the praise he gave her. Her side was burning even worse than her face was and it took every bit of common sense not to touch it. Her clothing had a hole in it and her skin was slightly singed.

"Let me see," he ordered as he moved the arm blocking her ribs from view. "Don't worry, that just needs some aloe and it'll be fine. Trust me, it feels worse than it is. I would have been an idiot if I had used full power on a rookie in training."

She nodded solemnly. "This suit was new."

Reno laughed. "Yeah, you're fine. Don't worry. Big man Heidegger's department pays for stuff like that. He'll get pissed as hell if you ruin too many but we're enough of an asset for him to get over it pretty quickly. Come on, we'll go to the infirmary and get some medicine for you. Pain killers help too if you want 'em."

"Yes sir," she said.

"Hey. Don't call me sir, all right? I work for a living."

She would have laughed but just wasn't in the mood. Her side still stung and it didn't seem to want to tame down. She almost wished that she hadn't held back when punching and really had fatally injured him but the thought of getting hunted down and executed before she could take down this trashy company stilled that thought. Instead she followed him to the door.

"You're a tad bit under trained for a recruitment as a Turk but not disappointing. You've got initiative to work hard and you're more promising than most low class soldiers that I've seen. Give it a while and you should be good enough to actually do some important missions."

As he talked they got on the elevator and descended to level 30. She leaned on the glass and looked out into the city. It was nearing noon and the summer sun was glaring down on the Plate. The reactors glared in the light and she squinted as she looked at them. It was hard to get use to the sun in Midgar. Even on the Plate the weather was usually dim and kinda gloomy. It always seemed as if the light was sucked away along with the Mako. Hell, for all she knew it might have been.

'Just like Nibleheim Mountains,' she thought. 'Once ShinRa's done with the land it's just a barren waste. Nothing left but broken people not even powerful enough to complain.'

They reached the infirmary a few minutes latter. The head doctor was a balding old man who Tifa was pretty sure was in his fifties at least and went by the name of Dr. Jones. He tsked when he saw her.

"Reno, you already gone and injured another patient for me in only a week. You really need to stop running around with that weapon of yours. I know you like sparing but this is getting ridiculous. You're going to kill somebody some day." His voice was wheezy but stern and Tifa almost apologized for being so careless as to get herself hurt on purpose.

Reno seemed more preoccupied with winking at a well-figured nurse.

"Just trying to keep you employed old man. Besides, it didn't do nothing more than burn her. We just came for some pain killers," he replied while still eyeing the nurse.

"Not without an examination. You always need to be sure." He turned to Tifa. "Take off your jacket. I'll need to be able to access your wound better."

She did as she was told. He bent over slightly and prodded her side gently. She hissed in pain and he pulled back muttering and scribbling something on a clipboard.

"Small burns but they're in a sensitive area. I'll get you some medicine that will help which you're to apply ever four hours and bandage yourself immediately afterwards. And I'll want you back in two days to make sure it's healing properly."

He left and a couple of minutes latter he came back with a white medical bag. Reno took it and said goodbye to the doctor.

"Let's go Tif."

Once again they were in the elevator and Reno pushed the button for floor 49.

"Who's the doctor?" she asked.

"Oh, he's a man I knew in the slums. He use to be a regular street dweller like everyone else down there but he self taught himself in medicine and got employed by ShinRa. He's been working here for nearly thirty years now," he explained to her.

"I… I didn't know that something like that was possible," Tifa said softly.

"What, for ShinRa to hire someone from the slums to be something other than a professional killer? Yeah, it doesn't happen often, at least, not on the important jobs. It's not unheard of to find a lowly executive who use to live in the slums but worked his ass off for his entire life for ShinRa in order to escape the place but they're pretty rare all the same." He shook his head slowly. "There might be some anti-government people against ShinRa going on and on about ShinRa being corrupt but they got me out of a leaky trailer with nearly no food and into a job with a steady pay so I'm not complaining."

Tifa had never wanted the elevator to open up and let her out so badly.

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Finished! Things are still sluggish but it's speeding up. I never have been one of those 'jump straight into the storyline' kind of writers. I like a little build up first.

Please review to feed the review bunnies. Unlike evil plot bunnies that stifle writing creativity, review bunnies are good. They need love… and reviews.


	3. First Mission

First I would like to thank Kit and CWolf2 for the reviews. CWolf2, I will work on the chapter length and trust me, the last chapter was important to the storyline. Suffice to say, Dr. Jones will be appearing again. Just bear with me please.

Now, on to the story. No, I'm not saying the disclaimer as a sign of protest. You all know what the deal is and I don't think it's right that it must be shoved in my face. So there. Humph.

Chapter3: First Mission

Tifa let out a small breath and lifted her Peacemaker. Her side ached slightly from yesterday's events with Reno and she still felt a little stiff from the tightness of the bandages but she wasn't really thinking about that. Her left eye closed and she carefully took aim, trying to align the barrel of the gun to the targets heart.

She squeezed the trigger and it fired off six shots, one after another. Slamming the button of the target's pulley, she took a closer look at it to see that she had hit all six times but not a single one were in the chest region that she had been hoping for.

"Damn," she whispered before she heard the heavy steel door slide open and then close slowly on the frame. Turning, she saw a man that could only be a Turk because of the blue suit he wore. His sunglasses were planted over his eyes even though the room was fairly dark from the dim lights, and his head was completely bare. It was hard to tell but she assumed he shaved from the fact that he didn't look old by any means.

He turned his head and looked at her, at least, she guessed he looked at her. He said nothing, but walked up to and then right past her to look at her target. She swirled around to see him taking it down and attaching a new one.

"You've never shot a gun before?"

"Huh?" she asked. His voice was deep, and she thought it fit him pretty well. "I have... but I'm no good at it. The army just threw a machine gun at me and told me to get to work. I've never been taught how to handle a pistol. I suppose Reno'll teach me."

"Reno is with Tseng briefing him on your interactions with him. He says he likes you."

This man sounded so indifferent about this that he could have been discussing the weather. She wasn't even sure how she could respond.

"That's nice to know," she said, feeling immediately like a fool for sounding like such an idiot.

"Reload your weapon," he told her. She did so and he took it, aimed, and fired. The target looked as if he had simply taken a big stone and hurled it at it, catching it right in the middle of it's chest. It was quite impressive.

"Your weapon seems to be working properly. Show me how you aim."

He handed the gun back to her and she put six more bullets into it. She raised it and once again squeezed her left eye shut.

"Leave both eyes open. You'll only limit your view."

She nodded and opened her eye. Steadying her breathing as she had been instructed by Reno to do yesterday, she carefully tried to aim correctly. A hand rested on hers and she looked up at her helper curiously. He gently coaxed her to lower her gun slightly as he stepped behind her, she guessed trying to see the gun's tip for her point of view.

"Your aim's too high," he said and then pulled away.

He was right. Now that her gun was lower she could see the chest over it's barrel and not be staring at the neck. She paused a moment more to see if he would fix any other mistakes but he simply stood there with his arms crossed, patiently waiting for her to shoot.

Six loud shots fired into the air and she once again awaited her target. When it finally reached her she almost cried. Three marks were in the left shoulder, two were in the neck, and one had actually hit the heart. It wasn't perfect but it had definitely been better than her previous tries.

"Thanks," she said as she turned to face him. He simply shrugged. "I'm Tifa by the way. But I'm sure you already know that." She extended her hand to shake his.

He just stood stock-still and looked at her. She almost lowered her hand until he took it in his own.

"Rude," he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be," she said before his meaning got across. "Oh. Right."

She quickly dropped her hand and mentally cursed herself. She was being a total moron... in front of a superior no less. What was wrong with her?

Suddenly the door opened again and Reno stepped into the room. He saw the two and grinned, but then again, he always did that.

"Ah, I see you two have met already. Rude, don't go shredding her psyche already. She's only been here a day," he said jokingly. "Tif, come on. We've got a mission lined up for you."

"Roger," she said and followed him out.

"Whatever he did, don't worry about it, okay?" Reno said as he pulled her aside.

"What?" She asked confused.

"Rude, he's pretty quiet. No doubt he bothers you, or am I wrong?"

She shrugged. "A little. I'm not sure what he thinks of me."

"No one knows what he's thinking. But don't get upset or anything, he opens up pretty well once you get to know him, especially if you're a fellow Turk. Besides, you've got a mission to take care off."

"What kind of mission are we going on, anyway?" she asked.

"Nothing too difficult. Just some grunt work that a few soldiers would take care of if we didn't have you to train. There's a man named Andrew Bloir," he handed her a file with the ShinRa logo on it and as she flipped though it he continued. "He works for ShinRa but lately a few important things have been going missing from a department he works in. After some investigation, we found out he's been slipping some things to the black market. Usually we wouldn't mind, since President ShinRa usually is the one ordering the things to be sold as the items go for a better price with the mob and so forth, but we've found out that this guy is just getting greedy and keeping the money to himself. Our orders are to go and capture him alive."

"Why not just kill him?" she asked without any qualm. It didn't sound as if this man was going to be living long for what he did. And besides, she was a former soldier; she could deal with getting some blood on her hands if needed be.

"Public trail and execution. It's all staged but it makes the public feel better and we get to pin all the other black market deals that have been going on lately on him as well," he explained. "ShinRa likes stuff to appear clean, no matter how much extra work it creates for us."

"Killing him now would be merciful," she said softly.

"The old man aint exactly a saint. We just follow orders."

"I know."

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Andrew's place was a mess. He lived in Sector 4 of the slums and it looked as if the guy had already been hauled into custody judging from how trashed it was. Reno pulled out his Electro-mag Rod and proceeded down the hallway of the small apartment.

"Who's there?" called a voice. An unshaven man came to the end of the hallway with a small pistol. Tifa at first thought that had he somehow found out that they were after him, but the surprise on his face told her otherwise. No doubt he had simply thought he was dealing with looters. "Oh shit, the Turks!"

"You know why we're here Andrew. Come along quietly and we won't break any bones," Reno told him calmly.

"No way!" he yelled and raised his gun.

Tifa was faster though. She dodged the bullet aimed at her head and grabbed the man's hand, forcing him to drop his gun, and slammed him against the wall while twisting his arm behind his back. His cries of pain echoed in the hallway as Reno walked over and picked up the gun. He put it right next to the man's head while Tifa prevented him from escaping.

"If you want your brains splattered on the walls then keep it up," he said. The struggling stopped immediately. "Good, now why don't you come outside and let the guards take you back to ShinRa?"

Three soldiers in blue uniforms walked in and Tifa noted that they had conveniently made it inside once all the work was done. She shoved the condemned man to them and they handcuffed him and led him outside.

"Good work," Reno told her and strapped his weapon back to his belt.

"You were never going to use that thing, were you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "It was just a threat. I'm back up for you; you're the one who's supposed to do the work. But you did fine. Let's get back to the ShinRa building. We need to make an official report to Tseng about the mission and once we're off duty I'll buy you a drink."

"I'm underage," she told him. In the slums that kind of thing didn't matter, as long as you had the money to pay nobody cared, but she was sure things were different on the Plate.

"Don't worry, you're a Turk. No one is going to say anything."

She considered it for a moment. Hanging out with ShinRa employees on her off time didn't sound like something she'd enjoy doing, but on the other hand the better she got on with a Reno the easier things got on her.

"I'll think about it," she said. "Right now we need to get back to headquarters and brief Tseng."

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"Was there any recovery of what was stolen?" Tseng asked from his desk as he looked over a few papers.

"No sir, the programs are still missing," Reno informed his superior. Tifa, who was next to him, let her eyes stray towards him for a moment. He was actually standing up straight for once and his smirk was nowhere in sight.

'Very professional when he wants to be,' she thought before something hit her. "Wait, programming? What programming?"

Tseng looked up at her and frowned.

"Did Reno brief you on the mission?" he asked.

"Only on the required capture of Andrew Bloir," she replied.

"Then that's all you need to know. Reno was to take care of the rest of the mission, which included the recovery of any missing items before they went onto black market. Such things are still beyond your skill," he told her.

'A.K.A. you still don't trust me yet, you corporate asshole,' she thought but simply gave a nod and an "I understand sir" response.

"Reno, see if you can track down where the stolen items could have gone. I want them returned as soon as possible. You're dismissed, the both of you."

The two nodded and left. Reno immediately got back into his nonchalant stance and pulled out a cigarette.

"Guess I'll be off then. Why don't you head home? I'll pick you up later for those drinks I promised."

Tifa almost said she wasn't interested but changed her mind. If she wasn't suppose to know about something then getting Reno drunk enough to tell her about it sounded good enough to her. Besides, what could it hurt? She nodded her head with a smile.

"Alright fine, sounds like fun. Pick me up when you get off of work."

"Will do Tif," he said, gave a mock salute, and walked away.

Her smile faded. This was going to be a long night, she could tell. Reno was definitely going to be tough to crack.

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All right, there it is. Still slow but things are going to pick up VERY soon, I promise. I know this chapter was also on the short side but the next chapter will be longer. Lot's of stuff going on right now, so I'm busy but I'm trying very hard to keep this thing rolling and not let it die. Luckily, I've got Nando to nudge me if I take too long. He's great, read his stuff.

Also, I proofread this chapter and I realized that it looks like Reno is hitting on Tifa. THAT ISN'T HAPPENING! I'm not making a Reno/Tifa/Rude love triangle here even though it may look that way. He's being friendly because she's a decent Turk, not because he wants to get her in bed. Just so there's no confusion and so I don't get people telling me whether they want her with Reno or Rude.

I don't own FF7. Squaresoft does. While you were reading this chapter some nice men in blue suits informed me that if I didn't do my disclaimer on purpose that they were to take me out, and not on a date either. And my morals didn't die, I just figured that if I die then I can't make more chapters and you readers would all be sad. So giving up and putting up a disclaimer was not at all selfish, I did it for you.

Review or the nice blue suit men might come after you too.


	4. Why Tifa Doesn't Like Bars

Thank you for the reviews everyone who was nice enough to let me know you read this. It makes my day to know that I've got some people who appreciate me. Also, thanks to Nando, my wonderful beta, who I'm sure is just as frustrated with me taking so long to type this up as everyone else is.

The not-so-nice men in blue suits still haven't left, which is starting to get me P.O.'ed since they're eating all my food, so I've decided to put up my disclaimer. They're probably waiting for that and I have to get them to leave.

Ahem. I, Noroi of fanfiction dot net and other web sites that I do not feel like mentioning right now, do not own Final Fantasy 7 nor it's characters. It belongs solely to Square and no one else, except for all the other people who do own it but I just don't know their names. As such, there should be no mistake that I, Noroi, have any part of it because I do in fact, know my own name. However, do not think that anyone who I do not know the name of owns Final Fantasy 7, for that is not true. So, in closing, you should not pay me for my work, neither should you pay just anyone that I do not know the name of for their work because the chances are that they do not deserve the money anymore than I do.

That good enough, you guys? Hey! Get away from my pizza!

Chapter 4:

Tifa applied the last bit of eyeliner to her face in front of her bathroom mirror. She hadn't worn makeup for a while and she felt that since she was going out, she might as well look nice. It wasn't much, but she did feel much prettier with it on. Her hair was still in its regular style, just tied into a loose ponytail near the end, and she decided it was best kept like that. She hadn't known whether she should keep her uniform on or not so she had eventually changed into a pair of nice jeans and green turtle neck sweater. It got pretty cold in Midgar at night even when it was summer and she was pretty sure that a T-shirt would just look bad because of her bandages.

She left the bathroom and sat on her couch. Was this really a good idea? It was too late to back out now but she was beginning to get second thoughts. Getting Reno to talk might be pretty difficult. As unprofessional as he might look, Tifa could already tell that he took his job seriously. And there was always the possibility that he would remember her asking and report it to Tseng. The last thing she needed was him breathing down her neck more than she was sure he already was.

"Damn it," she cursed softly. She couldn't second-guess herself now; it was too late. She needed to keep her nose clean, but she needed to make some progress too. There wasn't much of a choice in the matter. "I'll just do it. Make sure he's nice and drunk before I broach the subject and if he remembers later I'll just burn that bridge when I get there."

She waited a few more minutes before a sharp rapping hit her ears. No doubt it was Reno coming for her. She checked her clock. It was nearly ten; he must have worked late. She might have felt sorry for him if she didn't hate the company he worked for so much.

Opening the door, she prepared to greet him but she stopped in surprise. Reno had knocked on the door but the man she had met earlier, Rude, was behind him. Reno was still in uniform and it looked even scruffier than usual but Rude was dressed casual like her in a pair of black jeans, white T-shirt, and sports jacket.

"Ready Tif?" Reno asked.

"Yes," she said, recovering her composure quickly. "You want to come inside for a moment?"

"Nah, let's just go. I need alcohol bad," Reno replied. So she nodded, grabbed her keys, and left the apartment in tow of her two coworkers.

---------

The bar, Zolom's Tail, wasn't nearly as bad as she expected it to be. It seemed to be a comfortable place for friends just to come and hang out together. Though there were a few girls that Tifa doubted had high virtue giving Reno the eye and purring at him to come over, it was a lot less sleazy than she had imagined.

They sat at the table and the girls by the bar stools pouted in disappointment but kept watching them anyway. Tifa wished they would stop, she was already feeling uncomfortable as it was. She hadn't expected Rude to be with Reno. But that definitely confirmed that this wasn't a date, which she had been slightly afraid she had agreed to.

'Act casual, act casual,' she thought to herself.

"Yo, Barkeep," Reno called. "How 'bout some drinks here?"

She sighed and shook her head. So, she had another guy to get drunk, that's all. She could do that, even if his size probably got in the way. He looked like he could take a lot.

The barkeeper didn't come over but a waitress did. She was wearing a white blouse with a black bowtie, which matched the color of her skirt that was short enough to be hot but long enough to avoid being thought of as a slut. Her make up was just as modest as Tifa's was and she smiled warmly at the three.

"Hey you guys, brought a friend along?" she asked as she pulled out a small notepad.

"New recruit, Ashley," Reno answered as Rude gave her a small nod in greeting. Reno turned to Tifa to introduce the two. "Tif', this is Ashley. She's pretty much our designated waitress here since most everyone else is scared of us. Ashley, this is Tifa Lockheart."

Ashley laughed. "Scared? Yeah right, I serve you the same amount as the other girls do, you just like it when I do because I'm the only one who hasn't said yes." She bopped him playfully over the head and extended her hand to Tifa. She took it and shook. "Nice to meet you Tifa. Hope you become a regular like these two guys did. Now, what can I get you?"

"Bottle of brandy please," Reno said, dragging out the please to a drawl. Tifa fought hard not to roll her eyes.

"Just a regular beer," Rude said and readjusted his sunglasses.

'Wonder if he ever takes those off,' Tifa thought before Ashley poked her.

"And you darling?"

"Uh," Tifa said. "I'm not sure, this is my first time here. What's good?"

"I'd suggest the Velvet Scotch. It's my personal favorite."

She nodded her head. "Okay, I'll have one of those."

"Just a few minutes," Ashley said and click-clacked away in her high-heels.

Reno leaned back in his chair and sighed contently. "So, how's this for your first night hanging out as an official Turk?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. So, you come here often?"

"Every once in a while," Rude said, startling her. He hadn't talked at all on the car ride there and she had been pretty sure that he was just going to leave the chitchat to Reno. "It's a place for Reno and I to blow off some steam."

The drinks arrived and Tifa gladly took hers, so she wouldn't have to try to think of a response that wouldn't make her I.Q. seem lower than he must already think it was. She didn't know why she felt so nervous around him. It was probably because she had already made a fool out of herself in front of him and feared when she'd next mess up. She had never been that great at confrontation like this. As a soldier, she simply did a good job and worked hard and she got rewarded. There was no need to socialize with anyone. Working with so few people now, who just seemed to want to be friends no matter how much she detested them, was a lot harder. She had become more accustomed to being by herself and found it hard to deal with other people sometimes.

She took her drink and sipped a little from the straw. She could taste the slight flavor of cherry and something far more bitter. If it hadn't been for the sweetness of the fruit to balance it out, she would have spit it out of her mouth. The mix was good though and she found herself enjoying the beverage.

"Good isn't it?" Ashley asked. Tifa nodded. "Thought you'd like it. Just tell me when you want another one."

She left again and Reno and Rude started on their own drinks. The way Reno chugged his told her that he was planning on getting sloshed as soon as possible. Rude however simply sipped from his bottle and went back to being silent and ignoring his surroundings. She felt a bit relieved by that, at least she wouldn't need to make small talk with him.

She really didn't know how to go about making someone drunk quicker. She had planned to tip the waitress and have her slip something in the drinks but since they were so well known, the chance of Ashley going along with it instead of telling the two were nonexistent. Tifa was sure she could do it herself if only Reno was there with her but there was no way Rude would be looking away from the table and giving her an opportunity to try anything. And it was him she was most worried about. Reno looked as if he was perfectly content in getting drunk by himself, without anyone's help.

"More brandy over here," he called.

Tifa looked over at him and blinked. His bottle wasn't empty; it was still half full, enough for a few more glasses at least. Was he drunk already?

"Come on, you drink like a girl Rude. Have some of mine," Reno said as he pushed the bottle towards his bigger friend.

"Then who's driving?" Rude said. "I'll drink at my own pace."

"You're no fun," he accused. "Look, even Tif's had more than you."

It wasn't exactly true. There was less in her tall glass than in his bottle but he had started with more alcohol. Still, Rude took the bottle and downed a good bit off it and handed it back to Reno. It only had a few sips left in it.

"Now leave me alone," he said and proceeded to nurse his beer again.

Reno seemed content for the moment and gladly took his next bottle, which a different waitress handed to him on the way to her own table. She leaned next to him and breathed something in his ear, making the girls by the stools bristle in rage. Tifa wondered why none of them would come over. Not that she wanted them to, but they really had no claim on Reno if they were just going to be sitting there the entire night and stare at him.

"You're going to start a fight between the waitress and some costumers if you don't knock it off," Rude said. "Stop ignoring them. It'll loose its appeal soon."

"Yeah, yeah, I live to serve," Reno said as he stood. Giving a mock solute, he walked over to the women who began to giggle and coo at him. They suddenly looked very different than the dangerous creatures they had resembled a moment ago.

Tifa raised her eyebrows at the sight. She just didn't understand some people. Why would Reno even want such catty girls? She shrugged and turned away. It wasn't any of her business and she wasn't a stick-your-nose-in-other-people's-business kind of person.

"He's always like that," Rude commented. She looked up at him questionably. "Reno loves a challenge but he'll pretty much take any half-decent girl that says yes. He's a good guy but his morals aren't the highest."

"And I thought he was here to be with us," she muttered.

"Don't get me wrong, he doesn't have the lowest standards either, he wanted to stay here."

"What makes you say that?"

"He didn't leave immediately. Would you have wanted him to stay much longer if it meant a cat fight erupting?" he asked simply. She shook her head. "Didn't think so."

Tifa thought about it. It was still rude of Reno to walk out on them like that. Not to mention, her plan was falling apart at the seams. Her chances of getting information out of Reno looked to be exactly zilch at the moment.

"This is turning out to be a great night," she muttered without realizing it. Her eyes flew open and she just barely kept her hand from flying over her mouth. Rude gave her a look and if she strained her eyes enough she would have been sure he had raised her eyebrows at him.

"Bored?" he asked her.

"A little, yeah," she said, thankful that he had misunderstood her.

"Do you want to leave?"

She was caught a little of guard by that question. Did she want to leave and just curl up in bed in her apartment? Yes. Was she willing to give up this idea so easily? Well, not really. But then she looked over at Reno, who looked to have his hands fairly full, (she noticed that he shot her an apologetic look) and sighed.

"No, I'll stay," she said. "At least I have you for company." 'What? Why in the world did I just say that?'

He gave her another look and she nearly fainted in shock when she realized that he was smiling at her. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

----------

Tifa gripped her head when Reno gave her a little too loud greeting. She had taken a cab the next morning after her night at Zolom's Tail with the boys because she had wished to stay away from Reno for as long as possible.

Her plan had not exactly worked as well as she had hoped. Reno had returned to the table about half-an-hour latter after making sure he had spent enough time with the women to keep them from turning into a mob, and to apologize had treated Tifa to enough drinks to drown a fish. Needless to say that while she had held her alcohol well enough the night before, the headache she had awoken to made her regret ever attempting to best Reno in his own playing field. She was really beginning to despise bars, what was the use for them anyway?

"Hangover?" he asked as he joined her in the hallway of the ShinRa building.

"Massive," she replied. "I used a potion this morning, but it's still taking a while to kick in."

"The company gave you a Cure Materia, didn't they?" Reno asked. "Why not just use that?"

Tifa dared to glare at her trainer/guy that kept an eye on her. "Like I could concentrate well enough to use magic this morning."

"Come to my office, I use mine for you. Besides, you've got another mission we need to take care off. A little more difficult, so I'll be acting more as back up than I did last time," he explained. They reached his office and Tifa did an inward wince. She never been much of a neat freak herself, but Reno's office looked like it would have looked nicer if somebody from the slums was living in it.

"Maid on vacation?" she asked.

"No, actually she was buried alive here for two days before I noticed she was here. When I dug her out she quit," he told her. He pulled out his electro-mag rod and quickly performed a healing spell on her. "Esuna would have worked better but I never did bother to get that one. Rude's the one who carries most of the healing stuff. Anyway," he said as he pulled out a file that was on top of a small pile of paperwork on his desk, "here's your new assignment. Lab was throwing a fit so we need to take care off this…again."

Tifa open that folder and saw a young woman's face looking up at her from the person's file picture. Underneath it read Aeris Gainsborough: Ancient.

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Finally got this chapter finished and it ends in a cliffhanger. You know, if I were you people reading this, I'd hate me. I'm horrible to you people. The blue suit men are finally gone but only after the sacrifice half of my refrigerator's contents. Some reviews would make me feel better about that though.


	5. Decision

I just want to thank everyone for supporting me so well in all of your reviews. Everything from the "Good. Keep going." to the detailed reasons why you liked my story so much has helped me a lot when writing this and I felt I needed to tell all of you.

Disclaimer: I still don't own FF7 but after the blue suit men episode that I've had to deal with I don't mind saying it quite so much anymore.

Anyway…

Chapter5: Decisions

Spirituality had never been high on Tifa Lockheart's list of things she put much stock in. The biggest leap of faith she had taken was when she thought she would be able to see her dead mother again if she crossed over her town's mountain. And now she was suppose to believe that this young woman named Aeris was the last living member of a long dead race that had superior intellect and magic powers like the ability to talk to the planet?

'I'm beginning to see why the system is so screwed over in ShinRa. Everyone there _has_ to be insane,' she thought as she walked down the streets of the slums with Reno. The two were silent as she followed Reno to the place where he had told her the Ancient was said to stay for the majority of the time. There were conveniently no people around and she couldn't help but laugh silently at the ironic feeling in her gut that the ones that had fled quickly from the streets because of her uniform were the same kind of victim as she was.

"What'll happen to her when we capture her?" Tifa asked.

"She'll be handed over to the Science Research and Development Department for experiments," Reno replied. Something in his voice sounded a little disgusted with what he was saying. "It's said she can lead us to the Promised Land and give Midgar and the slum people eternal happiness."

"So what's the problem?" she asked.

He whirled around to look at her and gave her a small pout. "If there's eternal happiness than I'm out of a job."

"I'm sure," she said and rolled her eyes. She noticed a small church that resembled the rest of the streets, falling apart, but it still didn't have the hopeless look the other buildings had. It was close to one of the gates leading out of the city, so some sun shined in through the glass walls and gave the church a sort of comfortable little look. It reminded Tifa of home. "Is that it?"

Reno looked over his shoulder and nodded. "Yeah, that's it. Want the honor?"

"I'm going in alone?" 'So much for back up.'

"She's tricky. I'm waiting outside if she runs."

She gave him a curios look. "How many times has ShinRa tried to capture her?"

"Enough to give Hojo a conniption fit if she gets away again. But we can't use too much force because she's too useful to risk losing her. Not to mention she's just a sweet girl." He muttered the last part and Tifa wondered if she even heard it.

"I'll go inside," she said and slipped past him and into the door.

Aeris was kneeling over a garden of flowers like she was in the middle of prayer. Her back was directly towards the newbie Turk and all around her flowers were in bloom. It was a sight that seemed unreal to Tifa, to see this girl tending the flowers in the light that supposedly had forsaken Midgar along with the flowers that had done the same. Even without seeing the face of this person, Tifa could see an angel in this dead world. The guilt that she was about to hurt the girl because she had to nearly made Tifa retch.

"I didn't know the Turks had gotten a new recruit," a small voice spoke from the bent figure. She stood and turned to Tifa, dusting herself off. The photo of her gave her little justice. It couldn't capture the sparkle of life and hope in her earth-green eyes or the look of kindness but firm determination in her face. Even the brightness of her clothes seemed to radiate her will to survive in the home handed to her compared to the drab clothing most citizens of Midgar wore in the cracked streets. It was hard to believe that they were so close in age when they were in such different positions.

'And I need to subdue her,' Tifa thought in pity. But if it was for Aeris or herself, she couldn't figure out.

"I'm here to take you to ShinRa. Don't resist and you won't get hurt," she said. There was no choice in this matter. She needed to do a good job no matter what she was assigned. She needed the trust that would let her tear the cursed company down.

The young woman shook her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered softly. "But if I go to ShinRa willingly or by force, I will be hurt. I can't go with you."

Tifa nodded. "Then I don't have a choice," she replied and rushed the girl.

Aeris didn't seem frightened. She gripped the watering can nearby and before Tifa noticed, had flung it at her face. Tifa only barely had time to knock it away in midair before she saw the girl run into the back entrance.

"Shit!" she snapped before bounding after her. "Reno! She's heading to the back! Try and head her off!"  
Not even knowing if he had heard her, she slipped into the shadows of the back room. Holes were everywhere for someone to slip through and escape to the outside and Tifa hoped this wasn't about to turn into a manhunt. Only by luck did she see her hop out of a particularly large hole and was able to follow her.

Back in the street, Reno was nowhere in sight but Aeris was barely ahead of her. Tifa broke of into a mad dash and in no time had tackled the girl and pinned her with the cover of a pile of trash blocking them both from view.

The look in Aeris' eyes was terrified. She resembled a powerless butterfly, waiting for the cruel child to tear off her wings in the name of fun.

'Could this be the look the townsfolk gave Sephiroth before they died?' she found herself thinking.

Tifa slowly let go of the strong grip on the other young woman's wrists and shook her head. She couldn't do it. She couldn't destroy some one else's life for the sake of her own goals, no matter how just they were. If she did, then she'd be no better than those she hated. "Run," she whispered. "Find somewhere good to hide and get out of here. Now."

"Why are you doing this?" Aeris whispered as she sat up.

"It doesn't matter! Go!" she hissed.

Tifa stood and looked past the pile of trash to look for Reno. Still gone, she signaled to the Ancient to run.

Moments after she safely disappeared, Reno exited the church. Tifa ran up to him in hopes of keeping him distracted long enough for Aeris to get away efficiently.

"Where were you!" she cried angrily. "Where was the back up you promised me? She got away because you weren't there to block her!"

"I heard a crash and you yelled something so I went inside to check it out. I thought you were in trouble," he explained. "She got away?"

Tifa nodded.

"Then the troops will look for her and report if they find anything," he told her with a shrug.

"What? We won't even look for her ourselves?" she asked.

"We have enough on our plates without having to worry about Hojo's pets. We only show up every once in a while to keep that mad scientist off our backs for the majority of the day. And besides, I have another assignment to take care of. And you need to make a report to Tseng. About time for you to learn the not-so-fun part of the job."

"Talking to the boss?" she guessed.

"Paperwork," he said. The fact that he wasn't smiling or acting at all in his usual joking matter slightly worried her.

---------

"I'm done," Tifa happily moaned as she slid face first onto her desk. Her office was smaller than Reno's, and much less messy, but it held the same amount of stress. As a soldier, she had never had paperwork to do. The higher ups took care of such things. But now she had no choice. Though Tifa would have felt better if she was still out in the slums, making sure that the Ancient was safe instead of pushing paper around for the benefit of the company she wanted to see crash and burn.

A glance at the clock told her that she didn't have much time to rest. It was getting towards morning hours and she still needed to report to Tseng. Gathering up the paperwork that she would need, she stood and walked out of her office. Tseng's office was a long stretch down the hall from her own and she felt herself nearly falling asleep from the walk there. She couldn't wait to curl up for the night and rest.

The office door of Tseng's room was unlocked as she opened it. She had knocked for a few moments before she had noticed that the lights were off inside and decided to check it out. Light from the hallway streamed into the room and onto his desk. Tifa shrugged and walked inside, not even bothering to flick the light switch on. She'd drop it off and head home. There was no real reason to speak with Tseng directly, her report was more than enough to explain everything, and not to mention all the other paper work that she had been forced to do on top of that. And besides, there was a chance that Tseng had already gone home. She wasn't about to try and wait for him.

The folder was almost dropped into Tseng's 'To Do' box before she noticed a file lying open on his desk. The picture looked familiar and after squinting in the darkness, she recognized the face. It was Andrew Bloir.

Tifa looked up and checked her surroundings as if she expected someone else to be in the room as well, just waiting to catch her doing something wrong. There was no one but her. She quickly thought over her situation. The file laying on his desk so haphazardly could only one of two things: either Tseng was still in the building and was only planning to be gone for a moment, or Reno had just left it for his boss like Tifa had been planning to do. The later was much more likely.

She decided to take the chance and snag the file. She knew there were no cameras in the Turk's floor; the blackmail would be endless if it fell in the wrong hands, and as long as she returned the papers before Tseng came back in the morning than no one would be the wiser. If this presented Tifa with some way of getting back at ShinRa than no lost amount of sleep could make her regret it.

The pace back to her office was restrained. She was alone on the floor as near as she could tell but she didn't want to risk being caught looking too eager by anyone. Eventually she reached her office and walked inside. Slipping into her seat, she began to look over the file.

"A security guard?" She asked out loud as she flipped through papers. Hadn't Reno said he worked in a department? How could a lowly security guard get any important computer programs that the black market would want? But then again, anyone could sell anything in the slums, as long as it was important enough to buy. What would a guard have to offer?

The rest of the file hardly helped. It seemed that Mr. Bloir was just a regular guy. Single, had been with company for about ten years, and had been a good worker the entire decade. Then something occurred to her.

"I saw his file before," she whispered to herself. This file wasn't the same as the one she had been given before she had been sent to capture him. "I was lied to."

She spun toward her computer and clicked in a few keys. It wasn't hard to pull up what she wanted. The newspaper blared at her from the screen and she read the title.

'Andrew Bloir Arrested for Dealing in Black Market.

He was captured by soldiers in the afternoon of Thursday. He will be tried on Saturday by the Midgar Court...'

Tifa skimmed the rest of the paper and found what she was looking for. It seemed that the reporter was under the impression that Andrew was an accountant in the Weapon Development Department. No one would doubt he would be able to get important info in such a place. But Tifa knew that the paper was owned by ShinRa, and the information you could get there was next to worthless. Why take a man and lie about his entire history of ShinRa employment though? Could it be that he had gotten a hold of something from the Weapon Development Department and ShinRa just didn't want the people to know a security guard, who should have known next to nothing about the department or it's files, had been able to get info? Or was it that he had gotten something much worse? The later was unlikely. What could be worse than files about weapons of mass destruction?

She took a second look at the newspaper on the screen in hopes of finding out where he had sold the files, but there was nothing. Figured.

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I was trying to find a good stopping place and this seemed the best as any. Sorry for there not being any Rude in this chapter. Don't worry though; they spend nearly the entire next chapter together to make up for this boring one. I hope that the plot is starting to be a bit more apparent without being obvious. I always have a tendency to either give away too much or too little in a mystery. Please review to let me know how I'm doing.

Also, the people that have asked me for another Reno/Aeris (since my Curious fic) kind of hedged this chapter. I didn't originally plan to add any Re/A to the fic but if people like this it may turn out that way. Keep in mind though that there won't be a lot of it since this is a Tifa centered fic. So let me know if you're going to want more. Especially you, Random Reno Fangirl 5.


	6. Would you like to?

Wahoo! Chapter six! I'm so happy that I've finally been able to get it done.

Disclaimer: If I owned FF7 I would probably still be writing fanfictions just to see if anyone would still love my unofficial ideas. That, or I'd be writing fanfics about something else. Doesn't matter though, I don't own it anyway.

Chapter 6: Would you like to?

It seemed that no answer was going to come to Tifa from staring at the computer screen in front of her. No matter how many times she read the file and the news report over, she just couldn't put together the connection. What did a security guard have to do with anything? If it was important enough to lie to all of Midgar, than it had to be the key to understanding the whole ordeal. She just couldn't figure out what.

"Did I skip over something?" she murmured before she noticed the time on the clock. It had officially become morning less than an hour ago, and it was obvious that she wasn't going to get anywhere without more information. With a sigh, she closed the file and stood. Taking it back to Tseng's office seemed like the most reasonable thing to do.

After putting it back where she had found it, she headed to the elevator and went down to the first floor. The door slid open and as she got off, she pulled her hair out of her regular loose ponytail and let it hang loose.

"You should wear it like that more often," commented a deep voice.

Tifa jumped and whirled around. Rude stood next to the elevator behind her, and the plain look he always had was still in place despite the fact that Tifa had nearly had a heart attack on him.

"Rude," she said, getting use to the fact she always acted like an idiot around him, "what are you doing here so late?"

"Finished a job," he replied.

Tifa just adored how Rude left so much for her to reply intelligently on.

"Going home?" he asked her.

"Oh, yeah, I just got off of work."

"Like an escort?" he asked.

His question took her aback. Was he offering to take her home? Why in the world would he be interested in doing something like that? And it wasn't as if she would need a man to walk her home, she could take care of herself. Still, his offer intrigued her and she shrugged.

"Only if you don't mind," she answered.

He nodded and began to walk away. She followed in step behind him out the building and past a couple streets before he said something.

"You don't have to walk back there," he said as he stopped.

She looked at him curiously before moving next to him. Satisfied, he continued in his regular pace. She stole him a glance ever other step. He was so mysterious, like he was intentionally hiding his emotions. Then again, maybe that was just her normal paranoia of ShinRa and it's employees. Yet, she had to admit that there was something interesting about the man.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She blushed at being caught. "No, I just…" She fished around in her head for an excuse. "I guess I was just wondering why you always wore sunglasses. It pretty dark already, even with the street lamps."

"Because," he said and left it at that.

Tifa mentally sighed at his answer. Yeah, he was definitely doing it on purpose. "I'd just like to be able to see your face for real, that's all."

No response came from him.

She noticed her apartment building coming into view and dug into her pocket for her card key that would let her in. Security was tight everywhere on the plate.

"Thanks for the walk home," she said. She leaned on the door, waiting for some kind of goodbye.

He nodded and almost turned to walk away until he faltered. She noticed him swallow before he spoke. "Would you like me to take them off?"

She didn't say anything at first, not sure what to say. Finally she just whispered a small "yes" and waited with baited breath as he slid them off.

His eyes were breath taking. He had blue eyes that looked green in the right light. It took a moment to realize that she was mistaken. One was green, one was blue. Was that why he wore the glasses?

"Strange?" he asked.

"Not at all," she breathed and thought, 'They're beautiful.'

"Not the look a killer should have."

"Doesn't make them strange." She made a snap decision that she was sure she would regret later. "Would you like to come up for coffee?"

He shrugged and she smiled, opening the door to let him in. The elevator was broken, so they needed to take the stairs, but after about fifteen minutes they were inside of her apartment. He sat himself on the couch as she slipped into the kitchen to get two cups ready.

"Is instant alright? It's all I have time for in the morning," she called.

"Fine," he replied without raising his voice.

She turned on the sink water and waited for it to heat up. She'd never cared for boiling hot coffee herself and heating an entire pot for two cups seemed pointless.

Walking back into the living room, Tifa noticed Rude looking at the end table. He was focused on one of the many pictures she had on it. It was her as a child and her mother.

She stopped short, not even sure why. For some reason, Rude looking at the picture didn't bother her like she would have expected her to. Slowly, she sat next to him and handed him his coffee. He took it silently.

"How old were you in this?" he asked her.

"I was… twelve," she replied as she tried to remember. "And that's my mother next to me."

"Beautiful."

"Thanks, I always thought she looked pretty," she said with a smile.

He shook his head. "Didn't mean her."

Tiff blushed a little at his compliment. 'He's being pretty friendly tonight, what is going on?' she thought.

"Would you like to go out for dinner tomorrow?" Rude asked suddenly.

Tiff noticed that he wasn't looking at her, but instead, still gazing at that picture. He didn't seem to want to look her in the eyes. Could it be possible that he was interested in her? She mentally shook her head no. Even if he did, she had a purpose to take care of, and he was from ShinRa. No matter how kind he and Reno seemed to her they were still Turks, still killers who'd do anything to get the satisfaction of a paycheck.

'But you're a Turk too. You're willing to do all the things that they are in order to further your own goals.' Tifa tried to push the thought away but it still bubbled in the back of her mind.

"I… suppose I could go," she said hesitantly. "It sounds like fun."

He nodded. After a few moments of silence that neither seemed comfortable to break, Rude stood and downed his coffee in one gulp. Tifa raised her eyebrows.

"Leaving?" she asked.

Rude nodded his head again and put on his glasses. Tifa didn't bother to see him to the door, not sure she wanted to. There was a small feeling of relief that he was gone as she heard the door shut behind him, but it felt slightly different than her feelings from before. She wasn't sure, but it seemed like there was the slightest traits of regret mixed up in her heart as well. She didn't really understand why she was feeling this way. It was probably just sleep that she needed, she told herself as she got up to go to bed. She just flopped onto the mattress, not even bothering to undress.

---------

The way Reno kept stealing knowing glances at Tifa the next morning was irksome. The two were driving to work together and Reno was continuing to take long looks at her like he expected her to do a trick. The smile he had that seemed more smug than usual didn't help either.

"What?" she asked eventually.

"Have anything planned for this evening?" he asked.

Tifa glared. "How did you-"

"Yah, I knew he'd do it," Reno said happily. "Took me about a day to convince him he should just talk to you."

"Wait. You mean you set this up?" she asked.

"Of course. Poor guy really likes you, but he'd have never said anything even if the world were ending. Ya wouldn't think it, but he's pretty shy."

"Oh." Tifa said softly.

Reno chuckled. "You too?"

"No," she snapped. "I've just never been on a date before. And besides, the only guy I liked enough to consider going out with… I haven't seen in years."

Reno gave her an odd look and she steadfastly ignored it by looking out the window. She had the feeling she had said too much.

---------

Shorter than usual, and I'm sorry about that, but this was giving me such a problem that it wasn't even funny. I don't even want to go into how much crap went on while I was trying to write this. Also, please let me know if the romance is okay. I'm trying very hard not to rush things between them but have it going fast enough that it's actually interesting. A review would be appreciated.


	7. Rude, Ladies’ Man In Training

I'm back with more chappies. (Crickets chirp) Yeah the enthusiasm I get from you people is great. ANYWAYS I'm proud to present to all of you the next chapter of All for Revenge. Hope you like it.

Don't own FF7, I'm not cool enough. But I do have a beta (Nando the RPS king) who reads over my stuff, which is even cooler. He also helped me with the chapter title. Read his stuff and he'll love me and you…probably.

Chapter 7: Rude, Ladies' Man In Training

As the last of Tifa's bandages were removed by Dr. Jones she sighed contently. It had been a real pain for the few days she had had to deal with them because of Reno's Electro-Mag stick. Reflecting back on it, she realized that he'd really been holding back. She'd have to be extra careful if she ever had to fight with him again.

"I hear you got a date tonight," the doctor said casually. "With Rude no less."

Tifa stiffened and laughed nervously. "Yeah, well I don't know how serious it is. We only just met. He's probably just being friendly." She slipped her shirt back on and began to button it up.

"Being friendly is more than what he usual gives people. I pride myself in knowing a lot of people here in ShinRa and the Turks best of all. Can't count the number of times that one of those guys has pulled the other into my office, either of them barely alive but begging me to help the other first. The Turks deal with things that aren't suited in nightmares, and yet they've survived thanks to each other."

Tifa eyed him warily. Just where was he going with this?

"You seem like the kind of person who thinks you can only count on yourself. I suppose you have your reasons and you probably don't want share them, and I fully respect that, but maybe opening up to your team a little might help."

"I'm going on the date, aren't I?" she snapped a little hotly. She hadn't meant to but the conversation was starting to irritate her. "Sorry. I just…"

"It's quite alright, dear. I know it can be tough to learn to trust others," he replied with a smile. "But I've found that it can be worth the risks… most of the time. Sometimes you get burned yes, but at least you feel something."

She looked at him strangely. Why did she have the impression she was missing something?

"Well anyway, have a good time my dear."

---------

Tifa wished she could get the discussion she had had with the doctor out of her mind. She felt incredibly uncomfortable about this date as it was. It was strange to think about it but she had to admit that she did like Reno and Rude. She probably would have been good friends with them both if the situation were different in any way. She liked them both, Reno seemed almost like an older brother and Rude … well, the jury was still out on that one. But she couldn't let herself be carried away. As friendly as they were, as much as she liked them both, and as intriguing as Rude was, she had to keep in mind her position. She was out to fight they company they worked for, and she could very well end up fighting either or even both of them.

She couldn't let herself get attached. Of course, it worried her slightly that she felt she had to remind herself of that fact so much.

When Rude came for her she was surprised by his outfit. He was still dressed in his Turk uniform and it was incredibly ruffled up. She thought maybe for a moment that Reno had shaved his head and grown several inches, or even stranger, that Rude was cosplaying as his read haired friend. Suddenly, she felt very self-conscious in her low cut black dress that had slits on both sides up to her knees. She'd never tell him, but she had actually gone shopping just for this outfit for their date. His eyebrows rose a little and she found herself blushing, _deeply._

"Bad choice?" she asked.

He immediately shook his head. "It's nice. Beautiful, I mean."

"Oh," she said. She looked away, not wanting him to see how red her face was. Why was she getting so embarrassed? "Thank you."

"Um," he said as he fiddled with something behind his back. He gave her a bouquet that he'd been hiding. It was small, containing only three white lilies but Tifa appreciated it nonetheless. She didn't think she would have been able to handle it if he had given her a dozen roses or something overly romantic like that. Still, it made her stomach flutter in a scary yet comfortable way.

"I didn't know what you'd like," he explained. "I hope it's alright."

"It's wonderful," she said as she put it on her counter. She didn't have a vase to put it in but she told herself that she'd buy one soon. She than looked at him seriously. "I'm not too fancy, am I? I can change. Don't worry; I'm not like most women. I can get in a different outfit in just a few minutes."

He shook his head. "I worked late."

"I see," she said softly.

"Sorry."

"For what?" she asked him.

"This night wasn't supposed to be about work," he explained.

She actually smiled broadly. "Ah, don't worry about it. I understand. We both work for the same place so it's no big secret between us what we do. So, where were you planning to go for dinner?"

"Blue Oyster," he replied. "It's nice… I've heard."

Tifa almost sighed. She would more than willingly bet that Reno had not only encouraged Rude to take her out, but had also planned the whole date for his friend. She didn't know if she was going to have to smack or thank him later. It depended on how well the night would go.

"Well, than let's get going. Or… would you like to freshen up first?"

Rude looked at the state of his clothing and chuckled. It was a nice sound and for no particular reason, she found herself laughing as well.

---------

The restaurant was more than nice, it was beautiful beyond belief. Despite its name, it wasn't just a seafood place. It had the most expensive foods imaginable and it made Tifa feel a little dumb for not knowing what seventy percent of what the food in the menu even was. Even the silverware and wine glasses looked like if the were to be broken; it would have taken a credit card to pay for one of the broken dishes.

Honestly, she didn't feel comfortable. This wasn't the kind of place for her. She had grown up in the mountains and had been playing soldier for years now. The whole caviar and diamonds thing didn't fit her. Still, she didn't want to look like a country bumpkin in front of her date, so she didn't complain. She took dainty sips from her wine and ordered something she knew wasn't really baby eel in French or Italian. All in all, she tried to ignore her fancy surroundings and pay attention to Rude, whom she had noticed didn't look too comfortable either. He wouldn't even remove his glasses no matter how many tomes she had asked him.

'Score: Hit Reno: one point. Thank him: zero,' she thought to herself.

"So," she began, "how long have you lived here in Midgar?"

Small talk wasn't the best option in the world, but it was really all that she could think of. Besides, it was better than just waiting for the food to get to them in utter silence.

"Few years," he replied.

"Start with the ShinRa immediately, or was it more of a gradual thing?" she tried again, not going to let his short dialogue keep her from trying to make progress.

"Immediately."

"Where are you from originally?"

"Doesn't mat-… Junon."

She gave him a look. She could tell that he was trying but it still wasn't helping much. Why had they left the comfortableness of the date at her home? Was the scenery here really so bad? It couldn't have just been that. He was all out refusing to get in a conversation with her.

"Why'd you ask me out?" she suddenly asked. She wanted to know if it was just because Reno had put him up to it or because he had really wanted to be with her. Either way was fine with her but she wanted a straight answer. Being left in the dark about the entire situation wasn't fair to her, and she was slightly afraid of the consequences if she misunderstood the situation.

Rude seemed a little surprised by the question. "Isn't it obvious?"

"No," she replied with a shake of her head.

"I… wanted to get to know you," he told her.

"But why?" she gently urged.

He looked away and she didn't know if he was going to tell her. Maybe she would have felt like she had pushed too hard if the situation was any different but there was a small voice in the back of her mind telling her she needed to know. Just where did she stand with Rude? And maybe she also wanted to find out where Rude stood with her.

"You're enticing. You seem vulnerable, but you're strong too. You're beautiful but not vain and superficial like the other women I've met. You're intelligent and independent but not afraid of being feminine. It's so refreshing after some of the people I interact with on the job and with Reno. I suppose that I just want more of that- I mean…!"

Tifa looked at him strangely as he trailed off; cutting off his long (for him anyway) confession. Was he blushing at her? But what he had said, did he seriously like her like that? She averted her gaze but she couldn't help but smile and her heart skipped a beat. 'What's wrong with me? Why is this whole ordeal affecting me so much?' She knew she shouldn't feel this way. She knew she should just tell him that any developing feelings of romance between them were hopeless and wasn't going to work out but she found she just didn't want to. She wanted to enjoy this date with him and possibly see where it could go.

She reached across the table and took one of his hands in her own. Though sudden, he didn't pull his hand out of her grasp.

"Rude, I think… that I may just be-"

The ringing of Rude's PHS cut her off. He answered it after an apologetic look and she gave a mental huff.

"Rude here… What?… When?… No problem… And Tifa?…. Affirmative."

The brief conversation confused Tifa, especially when her own name came up. He hung up and stood from the table.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"Work," he replied. "We have to go, the both of us."

He quickly told the hostess that an emergency had come up and the two off them had to leave, and paid for the unserved food and drinks. Tifa found herself back in his car and headed to the ShinRa building before she even had a good grasp of what was going on. All she knew that it wouldn't be best ask Rude, as he was busy speeding down the street and dodging between other cars faster that survival instinct should allow.

---------

Somehow the two reached the building without crashing and burning to death together in some kind of tearjerker romance ending. Tifa found herself in the last place she had never imagined to be: President ShinRa's office. The place looked as if there had been some kind of struggle from the scruffs of the carpets and a broken window.

She had only ever seen the president once when she had become a soldier for ShinRa. He had made some speech that she hadn't been paying attention to at the time. She'd never met him face-to-face but she could tell that he was angry from his fat, purple face that looked like it was more fat and purple that it usually was. Besides for the three of them, Reno and Tseng were there as well with a skanky looking woman and an even fatter man than the president.

"THIS IS INEXCUSABLE! YOU SAID THAT RENO WOULD TAKE CARE OF THIS!" the president screamed into Tseng's face. "YOU'RE LUCKY THAT I DON'T FIRE YOU, MUCH LESS HAVE YOU EXUCUTED!"

Tifa didn't trust herself to say anything out of fear of getting the man's attention. Tseng looked calm, strangely enough, and didn't show the slightest emotion.

"We underestimated the situation. We thought that Reno might be able to get info from his old friends in the slums about the black market, but apparently the info had already been sold. This was obviously not just a plan by one man to make money, it was a conspiracy," Tseng answered his boss. "I promise the situation was not taken lightly."

"Really?" the woman sneered. "Than what fun were those two having? Or is that slutty dress the uniform now? I certainly hope not cause it's just about to make me throw up."

Tifa almost told the woman to go screw herself but Reno did it first.

"How dare you!" she screeched as the fat man gwuaffed in laughter.

"Reno!" Tseng snapped. "The two were off duty. We weren't aware the situation would need full supervision. Rest assured, this will be remedied immediately."

"It had better be," the president snarled. "Or else."

He nodded and indicated for the others to leave the office. Tifa booked it with the others as quickly as she could without running. She looked at Reno and her boss curiously as she asked them what that whole episode was about when they had finally reached the Turk's floor again. Tseng sighed and sat down at his desk.

"All of Midgar has been lied to, Miss Lockheart. Mr. Boir was not in the job that the news has stated he was in. He was a security guard that had stolen information on the security to the building, namely, the president's office," Tseng explained. "We thought it was simply because it was the only data he thought he could get at his position without getting caught so we didn't pay it much more mind than sending Reno, who is our attachment to the market, to try and track it down. Unfortunately, nothing came up. We didn't want to spread around that the information was out there, so we mislead the news into telling the public about the missing weapons. We figured while anyone who was interested in fighting against ShinRa would be searching for that, and find nothing, it would give Reno plenty of time to recover the what we were really looking for."

"But it wasn't just random theft?" Tifa confirmed. "It was done intentionally without any dealings in the market. That's why Reno didn't find anything?"

"Apparently it was sold directly from Bloir to our suspect. The security data was used for some body to get in the office of President ShinRa to try to kill him. Luckily, Reno and I were both there at the time to give a report and were able to sustain the assassin. He answered some question about how he was hired to go after the president but he isn't saying who hired him. We think it was the same person that bought the info in the first place but we don't know for sure. Mr. Bloir isn't talking either."

Tifa stood there, trying to digest all of this new information. She was a little angry that she hadn't known about it beforehand but she understood why Tseng had kept it to Reno. But if that was the case, than why were they telling her this now?

"So, what now, sir?" she asked.

"Now, we find whatever idiot was dumb enough to think he could mess with the Turks and kick their ass Tif'. You shoulda known that at least," Reno replied with a grin. "From now on, you're with me trying to find out who's behind this while Rude will play babysitter for the president. Fun, huh?"

"For now just go home." Tseng drew back Tifa's attention. "You'll be told of your official assignments when you come in tomorrow."

"Yes sir," she replied with a nod and left the office. As she pushed the button for the elevator, she smiled. This was finally it. She would find the person who wanted the president dead, and she'd make sure that next time they succeeded.

"Tifa."

She whirled around to find to see Rude waiting behind her. In all the talk, she had almost forgot about him. A slight knot of guilt formed in her stomach.

"I'm sorry about the date," he told her.

"It's alright. We can try again later. But… next time let's just go where we want to, okay?"

The elevator's bell rung and she quickly pecked him on the cheek before slipping into the doors and watching them slide shut. She wasn't sure but she thought she had seen him grinning.

---------

There it is. I was wanting to fit more Tifa/Rude fluff into this but the chapter sort of wrote itself no matter how many times I tried to redirect it to the date. Eventually I just let it stay this way and I guess it worked out. Good thing, 'cause it would've made the rest of the story hard to write if the two had been all lovey dovey on each other.

Please review and I'll love you forever.


	8. Starting to Hurt Again

Eighth chapter up and I'm so proud. As you can probably see we are starting to reach the climax. Don't cry now, we all knew that it was going to happen. Don't worry, I still have a little more to write but now the story is more obvious (at least I hope it is) than what it used to be. To be honest, I was planning for there to be a lot less than this. It was intended to be a five-chapter story like my last multi-chapter but it sort of ballooned out of control with Aries and the dates but I'm happy with the product all the same. It seems more real this way.

Oh, and I finally saw the Advent Children movie that I've been waiting to see for more than a year now. It was sweet. There was slight Turk bashing (Reno and Rude shouldn't be comic relief), which I didn't like much, but they still managed to kick some butt so it was still cool. Nice plot and Rufus ShinRa was pretty awesome too.

Anywho, enjoy the fic.

Chapter 8: Starting to Hurt Again

_Heavy thumps sounded as Tifa ascended the stair of the Nibleheim reactor. The Masamune was clutched tightly in her hands but even with her strength she could barely lift it. It didn't matter, Sephiroth had no weapon and his back was to her. She would get him. Her hatred for him and everything he stood for burned in her stomach painfully and it made her want to hurt him. Him and everything else close to ShinRa._

"_How could you do this to Papa and the towns folk?" she cried out angrily. She didn't even bother to hide the fact that she was approaching him. She knew he could hear her coming._

She reached him and brought up the sword with all the strength she had and prepared to slash it down upon him. Him, the horrible SOILDER that had destroyed her town. But he turned around at the last second and when he did, it was not Sephiroth. She gasped as she saw Rude standing before her, with a gun in his hand that he used to shoot her in the stomach. The impact of the bullet made her drop the sword she had been holding and she fell from the stairs. She hit the ground and a shock of pain ran throughout her entire body.

"NO!" Tifa screamed as she shot up straight in her bed. She choked in air quickly, nearing hyperventilating. Air seemed to want to burst out of her lungs and she had to try hard to keep herself from killing herself. Eventually she was able to calm down as she slowly rocked herself in her bed. Cold tears ran down her steaming face as choked sobs racked her body. She didn't know why she was crying, there was too much to distinguish from. Too much was running in her mind right now, threatening to tear her apart. Everything seemed to want to crush her.

The banging on her door didn't even matter to her. She wanted to just stay in her bed and wish all her problems away. She heard it being busted into but she still didn't care. It wasn't until Reno rushed into her room, worry all over his face that she looked up.

"Tifa, what's wrong? I heard you scream!" He didn't seem to realize immediately that she was still in bed, and that the only problem was that she was crying. He must have been worried; he never called her by her correct name. "Tif'… are you okay?"

She shook her head and broke down again, her weeping no longer even attempted to be stifled. He approached her slowly and sat on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, making soothing noises into her ear. She just let him hold her as she cried, damning him for daring to be so near when it was his company that had caused all of her problems but at the same time so happy that some one actually cared enough about her to try and see her through her hardship.

---------

"Yeah, we'll be in work in a while. Tifa just had some trouble waking up… You sure?… Okay, we'll do that then."

Tifa dressed slowly as Reno talked on the phone to Tseng. She was in no rush. For once since this whole infiltration ordeal began, she didn't care about hurrying to work to be impressive. It turned out that she had slept through her alarm and Reno had been on his way to pick her up. But it hardly mattered. She was too busy thinking about her dream.

The dream of Sephiroth wasn't too big of a deal. It had happened so many times that she had gotten use to it. But she had never dreamt of Rude before. She knew what it must mean though. She had started to forget that Rude was part of ShinRa and was starting to get comfortable around him. It was too dangerous. If she ever allowed herself to get to close to him, it could leave her vulnerable. He might find out about her plan, or worse, kill her when he did. She could almost still feel the throb in her stomach from the 'gun wound'.

"Why am I doing this to myself?" she asked herself softly. "I know this will never work but I still can't forget about him."

"Tif'?" Reno asked as he poked his head into her room. "You want something to eat before we go?"

"No," she said. She wouldn't be able to eat even if she wanted to. Her stomach was too upset. "What are we doing today?"

He walked into her room and leaned against the wall. "Gonna try talking to Bloir. Tseng is hoping that we can try to muscle at least a name out of him. We don't have anything else to go on so it's all we can do for now." He scoffed and kicked at her carpet slightly. "You know what I don't get? How the hell did this whole thing happen? Whoever we're looking for needed to know that Bloir was willing to sell out ShinRa in advance. They couldn't have just asked security guards randomly and got lucky with Bloir. We would have heard something from the others."

"They?" Tifa asked.

"Tseng figured something like this is a multi-party job. No one person is this good. Of course we have no proof, but it makes more sense to think that than it's just one single mastermind. But we won't know anything for sure until we can get some info."

She nodded. "I see."

"Tif', what's wrong?" he asked her abruptly.

"Nothing," she replied while avoiding his gaze. "We have to get to work soon. Tseng might be upset if we're too late."

"Is it about-"

"It's nothing!" she snapped at him and walked out of her apartment, leaving him to follow.

---------

"Who's behind this?" Reno asked for what seemed like the seventieth time. He paced the small room where Mr. Bloir sat in a small chair, handcuffed and looking much worse than when Tifa had last seen him. But despite the bruises and cuts on his face, he still said nothing.

"He's not going to talk," Tifa said after Reno kicked the man in the stomach. It took every bit of will power not to try to stop him. She had never seen him act so… brutal. There was no sign of a smile, no joking, nothing that resembled the man she thought she had come to know. There was only an unfeeling Turk in front of her and the sight nearly made her sick. And worse of all, it only reminded her of her dream and what she would face when she eventually crossed them.

"What do you suggest?" he asked her.

Tifa sighed. She had no choice; she would have to risk exposure sooner or later. She only hoped what she was planning would work. "Let me talk to him alone."

Reno gave her a strange look. "What?"

"Just trust me, okay?"

He seemed to look disappointed for a moment but she chalked it up to the bad lighting. "Okay. I'll be outside."

She waited a few moments after the door had closed before turning to Mr. Bloir.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

He gave her a grunt in reply.

Walking up to him, she knelt down to her knees in front of him and put a hand on his leg. He lifted his head a little and looked confused.

"I don't have long, okay?" she told him in a hushed whisper. "If you help me, than I can help you. I don't want ShinRa around anymore either. If you tell me who sent you then I can find him and help him take down ShinRa. I've taken a place as a Turk. Getting to the President is easy for me. And I promise that I'll get you out of here alive too."

"Why should I believe you? You were just told to say this," he accused her.

"I lost my father a long time ago," she told him calmly. "I've wanted to destroy ShinRa ever since. If you won't help me than I understand. You have no reason to trust me. But I want you to know that I understand how you must feel. It hurts so much. I don't know why you decided to do this. It couldn't have been for the money. You knew that you'd be caught, I could tell from the moment you come out with that gun. You didn't sell ShinRa out, you wanted them to pay. If you don't tell me who is behind this then I can find another way, but what you tell me could help us both so much."

"Very sad," he remarked coldly. "But you can't seriously expect me to believe that crap. You ShinRa scum are all the same, willing to say or do anything to get what you want. You actually thought that you just tell me that sob story and what, I'd just feel all sorry for you and tell you everything?"

His remark took Tifa by surprise. "No, I really want to help you."

He gave a small laugh and just shook his head. "Please, just because you caught me doesn't make me stupid. And where was your oh wonderful compassion when you were first sent to capture me? Think it was fine for me to die when I didn't have anything to offer you?"

The hatred in his eyes made Tifa take a small step back. It looked so angry and hurt, like a rabid animal that was about to be put down, giving it's last glares at it's master. She knew the look, and the feelings behind it. She had given that glare before; she had thought those things that he had said. He thought of her as a dog of ShinRa, just someone that did what they were told no matter who it hurt or what damage it caused for they're own selfish reasons.

And it sickened her to know that in some way, he was right.

She fled the room in a brisk walk and saw that Reno was sprawled across a chair, waiting for her and playing around with his Electro-Mag stick.

"So?" he asked.

She tried to talk but her mouth was too dry to say anything. Instead she shook her head to signify that fact that Andrew Bloir hadn't given up anything more to her than he had to Reno. Her stomach was giving an unpleasant throb and she was a having a hard time ignoring the pain. Brown eyes went wide as she suddenly clamped her hand to her mouth but she couldn't stop herself from losing her stomach's contents. Her knees buckled and she collapsed. The world's lighting dimmed rapidly and she could just barely hear Reno's voice calling out her name in shock

---------

"This just doesn't feel right."

"We don't have a choice in the matter."

"But Rude, we both know this is wrong. I mean, I thought you loved her for Christ's sake! Don't you care at all?"

"Did I ever say that?"

"Oh come off it! It's so obvious!"

"Uhg," Tifa moaned as she woke up. She saw Reno and Rude whirl around to face her. "What happened?"

"You collapsed at work so we took you home," Reno answered.

Glancing around, she saw that she was indeed lying on her own bed in her own apartment. But something seemed off.

"Rude, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with the president?" she asked.

Suddenly Rude seemed a little uncomfortable and looked away.

"Tseng's taking care of it," Reno explained. "He said we should take you home so you could rest. Obviously stress is starting to get to you. Don't worry, it was pretty much expected. You weren't supposed to be put in a mission like this 'till we could break you in a little."

She nodded slightly before a small pain in her head made her stop.

"Thanks guys."

"No biggie. You're gonna get a house call from Dr. Jones in a bit. He has some patients to take care of before he can get here but you'll see him soon. Want us to stick around 'till he shows?"

Fingers slightly traced her stomach and she shook her head.

"I'm fine."

"Alright. Well, bye." He walked out of the room but not before shooting Rude an expectant look.

"Tifa," Rude said softly. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head.

"Reno said you had a nightmare."

"Reno should mind his own business," she snapped back.

He didn't reply. It didn't matter. She honestly didn't care any more. "Please get out."

"What?"

"Get out," she repeated, more forcefully this time. "I want to be alone."

He nodded and left silently.

---------

It didn't take long for Dr. Jones to show up, like Reno had said. Tifa was in her dining room by then, drinking some tea. She called out that he could let himself in when she heard a knock and the next thing she knew was that he was sitting next to her, sipping on a cup as well.

"So how do you feel?" he asked her.

"Tired."

"Fever? I was told you threw up."

"Don't think so."

"Open."

She obeyed and the doctor stuck a thermometer from his leather bag in her mouth. It beeped a few moments later and confirmed what Tifa said was true.

"Normal. That's a good sign."

"I'm not sick. Just a little stressed," she said.

"And why is that?" he asked.

"Don't want to talk about it."

"Than how can I treat you? Don't worry. Whatever is bothering you, I'll keep in the strictest confidence." He gave her a reassuring smile and she just barely reframed from snorting. "Miss Lockheart, I promise, you're health means everything to me. I will not say anything to anyone if you don't wish it."

Tifa looked over at him for the first time. She had never told anyone what had happened at Nibleheim. But the sincere look in his eyes made Tifa want to talk. And so she told him everything. How Cloud had never come back to her, and how when Sephiroth came he eventually killed just about everyone for seemingly no reason, and even how angry she had been when ShinRa came to cover it all up. She told him everything but her plan to take down the company and he just sat there, listening to her silently.

"So now you don't know where your loyalties lie?" he asked her when she was finished. "I can more than understand that. This is a confusing problem. So, will you choose ShinRa or revenge?"

"What?" she asked him, slightly startled.

"My dear, I apologize, but after what you just told me it's painfully obvious that you don't like the company. Why else would you work for it if not to get on the inside in order to do something about it?"

She gaped at him like a fish. Had it been that obvious? And would his promise not to tell still hold now that he knew about her desire to take down the company.

"I'll keep my promise," he told her, somehow able to read her emotions and thoughts like a book. "It wouldn't be right of me to break my promise just because what you have told me does affect ShinRa. I'm a doctor, not a Turk a member or of SOILDIER. Besides, if I did tell ShinRa, than I would be rather the hypocritical of me, now wouldn't it?"

"What?" she asked, not completely understanding.

"Why Miss Lockheart, who do you think was the one who arranged the assassination in the first place?"

----------

Oh my God, I bet no one saw that coming. I tried to drop some hints while typing the story but every time I tried I made it way too obvious. (I'm not all that good at mysteries.)

I want to say that I'm sorry for this chapter, it got so angsty whenever I tried to write it. This is actually very tame compared to my first attempt. I didn't like it that much but I wanted to show that Tifa was still having this struggle about Rude. I hope it wasn't too bad.

Please review to let me know your thoughts.


	9. Decisions

Okay, okay. The ninth chapter of All for Revenge. I bet you are all psyched, aren't ya?

Anyway, I noticed that I didn't put up my disclaimer in my last chapter, and the "nice" men in blue suits returned. Fortunately for me, I noticed the lack of disclaimer before they showed up so I was ready for them.

Reno: Untie me you stupid moron!

Forget it! You're gonna be a present for one of my faithful readers, Random Reno Fangirl 5!

Reno: What!

I think she deserves you. You might be a better muse than the one she has now.

Reno: You're cruel. I've seen how she's treated her muses.

Yeah, well you shouldn't have stolen my pizza. Now, where'd Elena go off too? I should probably go find her. She's for Nando.

Reno: Hey, wait! Great. Well since she's not around I suppose I'll go ahead and do it for her. She doesn't own FF7 or any of its characters. However, if anyone is willing to try and rescue me than I could probably get you the rights.

Knock it off!

Reno: How'd you get back so quickly?

I'm the writer. I can do whatever I want. Now, you're going to RRF5 and that's final. Besides, I hear she's cute, so what's the problem?

Reno: (blinks) She is? Why didn't you say that in the beginning?

Sigh. You're such a man whore.

Reno: Yeah, but's why you all love me.

I give up. Well, might as well start this fic. Then I'll find your partner.

Chapter 9: Decisions

The room was stark silent as Tifa stared at Dr. Jones. He was an old man. Kind, and seemed to be devoted to the practice of helping people. To hear that he personally had arranged the attempted murder of the President, it was…

"Unbelievable," she whispered.

"I suppose it probably is," the doctor replied.

"But… why? I had heard from Reno that you lived in the slums before you worked here. Wouldn't you be grateful to the company?" She realized that her saying all of this was hypocritical, but at the moment her curiosity was too much to make her care.

"It's true, ShinRa did rescue me from the slums, and for that I'll be eternally grateful. However, and this is something a lot of people from the slums that are now here seem to forget, the slums are still down there. Even though I'm here there are still those down there that are hurting, also because of ShinRa." Tifa didn't seem to understand and he chuckled at her confused expression. "Let me try like this. What extremists don't understand is that ShinRa has both helped people and hurt them as well. We ourselves are both from the slums, and because we showed talent are living comfortable lives. ShinRa has given the citizens jobs at the reactors, in the office, or to join the military. They even built Midgar, thus creating, in a way, their own government that has helped us. But while there are those suffering in Midgar, there are the other cities. I've seen Kalm and others, they're healthy and the world death average is going down because of lack of accidents at coalmines and the oil fields. Mako energy is safer for the people, and has helped. But it's also expensive, and some people out farther than Midgar are losing faith in their 'government'. I've heard about one too many 'rebellions' that had to be destroyed for the good of Midgar. So, as you can see Miss Lockheart, there are two sides to every story. Most individuals don't realize that, and if they do, won't admit to it. Loyal followers of ShinRa won't say that some things could be wrong with what's happening, but at the same time those against ShinRa refuse to believe that some things are better now that it's here."

"But what does this have to do with anything?" she finally burst out. "What ShinRa has done to help people has only been for the company's benefit as well. Okay, maybe some people are better off, but you must think ShinRa needs to be stopped too. After all, you nearly killed the man in charge."

"Yes, this is true, but I feel that a person should always be honest with themselves. If they're not, how can they be honest with others? You see, everything in life comes down to numbers. Cold, hard, unforgiving numbers. How many people has ShinRa saved, how many have they killed? Is it worth forsaking either side for the other? It's how we make our decisions in life. So, is it worth destroying the entire company? Honestly, I don't think so."

"But," she asked, "why did you do this?"

"Again to the math and numbers," he replied. "The president is a tyrant of a man whose chief concern is money and power. He cares nothing for his people, whether they're loyal or not. I believed, and still do, that his one life is worth all those in Midgar and everywhere else. The vice president is better. He's a cold man to many who don't know him, and he claims to be hard to make keeping control easier, but I see a good man in him and he honestly does care about others. He would be a far better prospect than what we have now."

Tifa just sat there, trying to soak all of this new information in. So, he had never wanted to destroy ShinRa, just put someone else in power. It was nothing more than a political battle she had gotten tangled up into. And no doubt Dr. Jones had simply used his influence and files of information to find those that were on board with it, or had just been under the impression that they would help destroy ShinRa like she had been. She really didn't want to ask about it. Those two men were dead in just a couple of days. It's not as if he could do anything to save them, yet it bothered her slightly that he seemed to show no remorse over the fact that they had gotten caught and he hadn't.

"I suppose you think I'm despicable now?" he asked after some minutes of silence.

"I don't know what to think anymore," she answered. "I don't even know what it is I should do. Every part of my mind is telling me I should finish him off myself, but what's the point if he'll just be replaced like you said he would? I can't trust anyone there. Everybody has a double face, even you. Is this whole company corrupt!"

She shouted out the last part out at him, but he didn't show any sign of being startled. He just sighed and patted her on the arm.

"I can't tell how sorry I am that I disappointed you. I guess, in my own way, I'm a loyal fool of ShinRa as well. I make no attempt to say I'm a good man. I am despicable in my own way. However, my actions don't need to influence you. You could very easily end it now. You could go President ShinRa's office and kill him and then do the same thing to Rufus if you manage not to get caught. Or you could decide that it's not the way you want to go and give up and just leave. You seem like the kind of girl that could enjoy a normal life if given the chance."

Hair swished slightly as she shook her head. "It's more than that."

"Ah," he said. "I'm guessing you are referring to Rude?"

"I don't know anything about him, and yet I feel so…attached. I don't even know his real name. If he ever found out… he'd kill me." She was barely able to whisper the last part.

"You don't give him enough credit. And even if you did know him, would it matter? If you knew his name is in fact real and he was probably just the victim of parents that give the seemingly cute name at the time without realizing how bad it would sound later, would it really change your situation?" he said.

Tifa arched her eyebrows. "Is that it?"

"Actually, I have no idea. He wouldn't tell me when I asked," he replied. "But I do know that you love him. Who knows, maybe you can choose him. Is he worth more than your revenge, that you may never be able to achieve?"

Tifa just sat in her chair, no longer paying any attention to the man. It wasn't fair, but he had put quite a few things into context for her. As confusing as some of his words had been to her, she couldn't deny the fact that she had understood his last words. He left soon afterwards but she only said goodbye and saw him off on autopilot. She had never needed him, not really. She could just walk into ShinRa's office with a gun and pull the trigger at point-blank-range. It wouldn't destroy the company, but she'd enjoy doing it.

But there was also Rude. It was true. She did love him. And the way she could just admit it showed her that she had known for a while and just been too scared to say it. But she had to grow up. She wasn't a blushing teenager anymore. She was an adult, and for nearly the first time in a long time she knew what it was she wanted, no, needed to do.

"And I love him," she whispered with a smile. "I love him."

There was no fighting it. She was a fool, but she had never been able to argue with her heart. When it pointed, she had no choice but to follow.

That's probably why after Rude had gotten home at the end of the day, he heard a knock on his door not too long later. He opened to see her standing at his door, a soft smile on her lips. She could see he was surprised from the slight raise of his eyebrows.

She didn't waste words. She just stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, pouring all of her passion into her it. Though he was shocked, he quickly pulled her inside and pressed her against the now closed door with a groan that sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine.

He jerked away from her suddenly and shook his head. "No."

"Why?"

"It's just not-" She cut him off by pressing a finger to his mouth.

"Rude," she said with a smile, "you talk to much."

She kissed again, and this time he didn't pull away.

---------

The cold mist of the early morning was far from being able to reach Tifa as she woke up in the warm sheets and arms of Rude. She snuggled closer to him and smiled up at him. He held her close to him, but he was so quiet, that she had sudden fears that she had somehow disappointed him. She had never done more than play spin the bottle with the opposite sex before, and she had sort of just done what she thought felt good last night.

"Coming here wasn't a mistake, was it?" she asked him, trying hard not to sound worried.

He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. "Yes."

It hadn't been the answer she had been hoping for. She sat up quickly and he made no attempt to stop her.

"Yes?" she repeated. Her voice was quiet. She was too hurt to really be angry. "I was that bad last night?"

He immediately shook his head. "No." After a moment of hesitation, he got up and walked over to his nightstand as she held the sheets up to her naked chest. A file flopped in front of her and she nearly choked as she opened it and saw her picture. It wasn't the fact that it was her file, rather what this particular file covered.

"You knew all along?" she asked with tears in her eyes. She had thought only Tseng would know about Nibleheim. Maybe Reno because he was charged with looking after her, but Rude?

"I knew. Tseng wanted us all to be aware incase you really were the spy we thought you were."

"Spy?" she asked.

"We knew there was some kind of conspiracy going on when the security data was stolen. You came in almost a day later and we thought an inside job was being pulled. Tseng hired you, wanting to give the terrorists the impression they had the upper hand in order to draw them out."

"But I-"

"I lost my father a long time ago. I've wanted to destroy ShinRa ever since. If you won't help me than I understand. You have no reason to trust me. But I want you to know that I understand how you must feel."

Tifa's words played back at her from the tape player in Rude's hands. She hung her head in shame. What an idiot she had been to not even think of the possibility that the room had been tapped. She wanted to be angry with him. He had made love to her, knowing fully well she was the enemy but she couldn't be mad. After all, she had done the exact same thing. And he had tried to stop it.

"What now?" she asked him.

"Leave," he told her.

"You're not going to kill me?"

He shook his head. "Not on duty… yet"

"I see," she replied.

The two dressed without a word or glance at each other. It shocked her that Rude wasn't trying to apprehend her.

"I'm still going after ShinRa. What will you do then?" she inquired.

"If you show up at the building while I'm there then I won't have a choice. We both know that."

"I don't suppose you'd leave ShinRa?"

"Would you leave what you believe in?"

She bit her bottom lip. No she wouldn't, she could never just forgive ShinRa. Her silence was good enough of an answer for him though and he sighed.

"This isn't fair," she commented.

"No, it's not."

He walked her to the door in an oddly out of place gesture of good will. But just as she was about to open the door he grabbed her and kissed her again. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck as his hand snaked into her hair. Time seemed to stand still for the two before she finally broke away, tears in her eyes.

"It's not fair!" she sobbed into his chest.

"I know."

She broke away from him and was fleeing the house in a fast run. She didn't really think about where she was going, just instinctively going towards her home. The elevator lifted her to her floor and she contemplated her situation. She hadn't really expected it to work out, but she had been hoping. It had been a pipe dream from the beginning and she did nothing but set herself up for a fall, but there had always had been that small chance that it could have worked out.

She wasn't going to stay away though. She had come too far for that. There had been too much playing around, but now her head was clear. She was going to do what she had originally come there to do.

The door of her apartment wasn't locked like when she had left. Getting herself into a defensive position, she slipped inside and peered in the dark corridor for an intruder. Fingers reached towards the light switch, and just as she flicked it on, an Electro-Mag Rod was swung at her face.

"Good dodge," Reno commented after Tifa had jumped back away from him. She gritted her teeth and aimed a kick at his head. It seemed with his ease that he grabbed her leg and threw into the living room where she crashed into the couch. Tears sprung up from the pain before she sprang back up at him again. She tried desperately to hit him but no matter how fast she was, he seemed to be one step ahead of her. It was different from when they first fought. He had obviously been holding back during their sparing lesson. She couldn't believe she couldn't even touch him!

"Uh!" she gasped as 10,000 volts of electricity shot through her abdomen. Coughs escaped from her as Reno grabbed the tie of her uniform and pulled up to look her in the eyes.

"Sorry Tif'. Orders," he told her. He raised his weapon to strike her head but her hands suddenly shot up and grabbed the hand that held his Rod while her teeth sunk into the fist holding her up. "Arg!" he yelled as her head crashed into the bottom of his chin.

Tifa was able to wrench the Electo-Mag Rod out of his hands as he fell onto his back. He tried to get back up but he found Tifa standing above him, a growl at the base of her throat, and the Rod clenched in both hands. Before he could even move a flash of light erupted from it and a transparent pyramid formed around him.

"I don't want to fight you," she told him honestly.

Reno surprised her by laughing. "Daring as ever. Nice move Tif'. You got me good."

The rod clattered to the floor and Tifa shook her head. "You just tried to kill me and now you're paying me compliments? You're so weird."

"Yeah, I know," he said with a shrug, than his expression turned serious. "Look, Rude is gonna be with the President. We all figured what you're planning. Just go. I can report you taken care of, no problem. I…look, I know you're just here outa revenge, but I still saw you as a teammate. I don't wanna see you die, especially not by Rude's hands. He'll kill you, without any hesitation."

Tifa sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "But Reno, would you respect me anymore… if I ran away? Sorry. I've finally made up my mind."

She ignored his calling of her name as she grabbed her Peacemaker that she had been issued by ShinRa. After giving a small wave, she walked out the door and began her stride to the man she would soon see dead.

---------

Okay, this is my second to last chapter. Or, third to last. It all depends on if I add the epilogue to the last chapter or if I try to make it stand on it's own. In either case, you can all see that this story is close to ending.

I have shipped off Reno and Elena (after some struggling) to my respected friends. I hope they enjoy their gifts and are willing to feed the Turks well. If anyone wants to get other ShinRa employees, or the other FF7 characters, just review and I'll set up some traps for them as well. Although the better be GOOD reviews 'cause those damn Turks were a pain in the ass to catch. Can't imagine what Sephiroth would put me through. (Shudders)


	10. My Final Decision

Woo, my final chapter in All For Revenge. I'm almost sad to see that's it's finally over. I really enjoyed writing this, and all the reviews that I received from all of you that showed that you enjoyed it as well.

I still don't own Final Fantasy 7. But I hope someday that I'll own something important that other people will write fan fictions on and say that they don't own it. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Chapter 10: My Final Decision

Bodies littered the floor around Tifa's feet. She ignored them as she stepped over them and proceeded to the elevator. Did anyone in ShinRa actually think that those wimps would have been able to stop her? They had only seen her capabilities as a Turk for a short time, but she thought she deserved more respect than this.

'Still,' she thought as she slid her still active employee card into the elevator's slot, 'things are going to get a lot harder on the top floor. President isn't going to be stupid enough to leave himself unguarded.'

The thought that she would have to fight Tseng or even Rude was not a foreign thought, and she was at finally at ease with it. If it happened than it would happen. She had wasted enough time already second-guessing herself on this. And while there was a small twinge in her heart at the thought of killing the man that she loved, she ignored it. He had chosen his path and she had hers. There was no doubt in her mind that he would kill her if he were given the opportunity. She couldn't afford to be weak towards him.

She wasn't surprised to see three guards with machine guns waiting outside the door for her. She simply scoffed and before any of them could react, she shot forward and slammed her a kick into the face of the front guard, dropping him immediately. Grabbing the shocked second guard, she snapped his wrist to make him drop his weapon and pulled him in front of herself to use as a shield from the final guard.

"Go on," she snarled at him. "You think I care if you shoot him?"

The last guard hesitated and she used the opportunity to shove the guard she was holding at the other. They slammed against each other and she quickly cast a lightning spell on the two. They fell as quickly as the last guard had and she glared up at the end of the hallway that would lead to the stairs to the President's office.

Some one was standing in the way. Tall and imposing. Just looking at him made Tifa feel furious.

"Get out of the way," she snapped at Rude.

"You know I can't," he told her.

She replied silently by pulling out her ShinRa supplied Peace Maker and pointed it right at his chest.

"I'm going to say this once more. Get out of my way… or else," she growled the last part at him.

Rude gave a small sigh before he began to walk towards her. It was not a run or an attack, just a calm stride, as if she didn't even have the gun, or worse yet, as if he didn't believe she would shoot it. She cocked the pistol to show she was serious but he paid it no mind.

"Rude, get back!" she yelled at him, but he ignored her and kept walking.

Her arms trembled as she fought to keep her gun steady. Every thought in her mind was screaming at her that she had to kill him but her hands didn't seem to want to respond. It would be so easy, all she had to do was squeeze her finger and it would be all over. But when his chest met the barrel of her pistol she still hadn't shot it.

The material of his jacket brushed against her gun and he just stared at her. Even with his sunglasses, she could feel his stare bore into her. She was shaking uncontrollably by now. His silent dare, telling her to do it, was only slightly less terrifying than the actual thought of him dying.

She couldn't do it. As much as she had tried to convince herself that she could do what needed to be done, in the end she was just a fool in love. She couldn't even try it; too afraid of what her world would be like if she did kill him. She was too weak, but even as tears streaked down her face, she didn't feel an ounce of regret.

Dr. Jones had said that it all came down to numbers. He had been right. Rude was worth more to her than to her revenge, no matter how much she had tried to tell herself that wasn't true. She had been forced to lie for so many years, she had thought she had gotten pretty good at it. But it seemed she had lost her knack for it. She couldn't lie to herself for any longer, she loved Rude and Hell would freeze over before she could hurt him.

When he took the gun from her, she didn't fight. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her. And even when she heard her own gun go off and felt the bullet tear through her stomach she didn't feel as if it was such a bad a way to die.

---------

Tseng sat in his office as he stared upon Miss Lockheart's file. He had actually found himself wishing that his usually instinctive first impressions had been off when it had come to her. The moment she had stepped into his office he had no thought that she would last long but he wished that this one time, he had been wrong. Rude had seemed to be so happy with her, and now he had been given the order to kill her if Reno had failed.

It was too cruel, but something the Turk's had to do all the time.

His PHS rang and he picked it up. What he heard didn't surprise him.

"All right. You know what to do now."

Less than five minutes latter, DECEASED was stamped across the file in bold, red ink.

---------

It's not everyday that somebody can wake up and wonder why they are not dead. It's an unusual experience. While there can be happiness about the fact that you are still alive, there is too much confusion about why you are still a part of the living world to really enjoy it.

This was what Tifa was feeling when she awoke. Her side ached terribly, but aside from that she found herself to be quite comfortable in a fluffy bed that had the smell of a loving home, a smell she had not experienced in a long time.

It was even more shocking to see that Aeris was looking down at her with a smile.

"Awake now? I admit I was getting a little worried," she said in her soft, yet happy voice.

"W-what…" was all that Tifa could manage.

"Rude and Reno took you here. They asked me to take care of you until you were better."

"They were both here?" she asked.

"Yes. I was scared to death when they showed up but they told me that all they wanted was to make sure that you were all right. A Phoenix Down and a few cure spells did the trick just fine, and you should be on your feet within a few days," Aeris replied. "Truth be told, they don't usually show up unless they're trying to capture me. They don't just visit me anymore; they must have thought that there was no one to trust you with on the Plate."

"You mean, they don't always try to capture you?" Tifa said.

Aeris blushed lightly and said nothing before turning back to Tifa.

"They told me that the Plate was no longer a safe place for you to be at. You can stay with me and my mom for as long as you like. They said you might want to get out of Midgar, but I have a feeling that isn't an option for you."

"Thank you," Tifa said. "I'll think about it. But for now, I think I need to just rest."

"Of course," Aeris said as she stood and left. The door shut silently behind her and footsteps faded into the distance, letting Tifa know she was alone with her thoughts. She rolled over onto her side and faced the wall. She was too confused to think about too much right now. She just wanted sleep. Decisions could be made latter.

---------

Tifa did end up staying with Aeris. The home she had been offered had been too comfortable and loving to refuse. They lived together for a few years, and all the while Tifa wondered about Reno and Rude, mostly about Rude. Aeris would talk about them sometimes trying to kidnap her, but Tifa never saw them herself. She supposed she would if she spent a lot of time protecting her friend like she had wanted to but the Ancient insisted that she was fine and could take care of herself. There was a part of Tifa that knew that she wouldn't have been able to face Rude if she did see him, so she didn't argue with Aeris about it much.

Aeris had brought home a stranger one day that she claimed had saved her from the Turks and Tifa had almost cried when she realized it was Cloud. He had joined an organization called AVALANCHE and Tifa was pulled back to the Plate of Midgar when Aeris had been captured by the Turks. She soon found herself chasing after Sephiroth, the murderer of her town, and realized that Cloud must have gone into some kind of delusion about him being there. His obvious instability kept her from saying anything though, and she let him keep his fantasy.

There seemed to have been so much that had happened. She met the Turks many times, but every time they pretended that they didn't even know her. She said nothing to them either, too afraid of what the others would think. There was a new girl with them, Elena. Tifa tried not to think too badly of her, but she was sure that she was an idiot. It was slightly insulting that they thought that blond a better Turk than her. Still, she was loyal. Maybe it had just been jealousy that this girl was close to Rude while Tifa had to fight him that made her so venomous.

Aeris even ended up dying, which tore Tifa up like nothing else. She remembered the one time that she actually had a real interaction with Reno since she had left him in her apartment, trapped by his own device. It had been in Wutai and she had been looking for Yuffie (and the Materia that had been stolen) when Reno had suddenly came up and grabbed her, demanding to be told that what Reeve had told him was a lie. When she told him it was true, she had been shocked beyond all belief to see him burst into tears and collapse into her arms. But when she had seen him later while he was rescuing Elena, nothing showed how upset he had been, other than the slight redness to his eyes. She never asked him why he had reacted that way. It was too obvious. After all, she had fallen in love with the enemy too.

And finally it was over. Holy was summoned and Sephiroth had been killed. Everyone went his or her own separate ways. Tifa didn't try to hard to stay in contact with any of them. They always called her, and she would answer and talk with them, but she never would call them. There seemed to always be a great distance between her and all of her friends. She knew all of their pasts. She knew why Barret hated ShinRa and she had helped Cloud finally figure out that he'd never really been a part of SOILDER. But they didn't know her. They didn't know that she had been a part of the Turks, even if it was an infiltration attempt. It was something she was ashamed of, and Aeris had never spoke of it to the others either. It was something she had never wanted to think about again.

Eventually she took a small apartment in Junon. She wasn't sure why she had chosen this place of all places, but it was a loud city, which kept her busy and kept her distracted.

It was about a year after the whole mess had finally resolved itself when Tifa was sitting in her sofa with a book. She had been reading for a few hours, but she hadn't really been paying attention to it. None of the words had really made it to her brain and she was considering just putting it down and taking a nap when a knock on her door made her look up.

The thought of just ignoring it stayed in her head for less than a second. Yuffie had made a mention of coming over for a visit and Tifa knew that the girl would attempt to break the door down if she didn't answer soon enough.

"Coming," she called and went to open it.

"Hi Tifa," Rude said when she saw him.

She just stood there, staring at him. He said nothing other than his short greeting and Tifa found her mouth too dry to say anything.

So she kissed him.

She supposed it wasn't the clearest thinking on her part, but she couldn't stop herself. She just jumped him and kissed him as hard as she could. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her closer to him, not objecting to her actions at all.

Really, the instantaneous actions would have been comic if it weren't for the fact that she hadn't seen him for so long.

"What are you doing here?" she asked after they had finally let go of each other and he nudged her inside so that he could shut the door.

"I came to see you," he responded.

Tifa sighed. She didn't expect to get more than that out of him.

"President ShinRa is still in charge of this town and right now we're trying to build our way back up," he explained. "I… I wanted to see you again."

"Why?" she asked.

His eyebrows raised behind his glasses in a "You have to ask?" sort of way.

She paid it no mind. "Why? Why come after all this time? Why did you shoot me and then save my life in the first place?"

Her voice didn't rise but she could still feel the stress she was feeling escape through her breath. It was amazing how he could still stir such strong feelings in her after so many years of separation.

Rude frowned. "It was Reno's idea. He was supposed to apprehend you but just incase he didn't get you out of Midgar safely I had to make it look as if you had died to keep you safe. Aeris was the only one we could trust you with down below, so we took you there."

Tifa ran a hand through her hair and leaned against a wall. "But why now?"

"I couldn't stay away any longer. It killed me to see you with the enemy and not be able to talk to you. I couldn't say to you that I loved you or that I spent every night dreaming of the one time we had spent together." One hand reached out for hers and the other pulled off his sunglasses. "I don't want to have to do this anymore. I don't want to have to stay away anymore. I want to be here with you, if you'll still have me."

Tifa was slightly caught off guard by his long speech, though she really shouldn't have been. She pulled him close and kissed him. It was tender, and they just stood there basking in each other's presence for a while.

"I never dared to think that I could have this. It never seemed possible," she breathed.

"I'm still involved in ShinRa," he warned.

She shook her head and smiled without having to think about it at all. She had beaten Sephiroth, and ShinRa was no longer a threat to the planet. She had done what she had set out to accomplish. "I don't care. I was too stupid to realize what I had. I'm never letting go again."

_The End_

This was much shorter than what I had originally intended but I had a whole bunch of detail that I just decided to cut out of the last chapter. It was unimportant drabble that detracted from the story line and I just didn't like it.

I hope that everyone liked my story. If this is enjoyed by even one person than all the headaches and writer's block that I went through to write this whole thing was infinitely worth it. Especially the Aeris/Reno fans. I realized that I hadn't put a lot of stuff in there for you guys so I wanted to show that he did love her, even if it was portrayed in a sad way. I didn't give away much of what was going on between them, and I'm sorry for that. However I am thinking about possibly making a side story to this showing their relationship. This may or may not happen, as I'm getting ideas for other stories that are not in FF7. My anime obsession is starting to rise again, so I may dabble in that for a while instead.

Please R&R. It would be greatly appreciated to hear what you thought of my story.


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